Code: Virtua
by Woodsballer
Summary: A new student arrives at Kadic that somehow knows about XANA. A new team emerges and the Warriors are sent on their biggest adventure yet. UlrichXYumi COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

CODE LYOKO

CODE LYOKO

Code: Virtua

**Author Note: Just so that you all know, this story takes place during season 2, but before "The Keys" episode.**

**Legal Junk: "Code Lyoko" and related characters are property of MoonScape and are not mine. Carl and other characters added later are mine and may not be used without my permission. Any similarities of costumes, abilities, or personalities of said characters with anyone else's is coincidental.**

"Laser arrows!" Three small arrows flew out of Odd's wrist, two of which buried deep into a single roachster. It exploded into many pieces as Odd landed a few feet away. Several yards away, Ulrich was spinning his sword like a madman, trying to hold off two blocks at once. Beyond him, Yumi was catching laser bolts with one fan and was slicing through roachsters with the other. Aelita was sprinting as fast as she could toward the tower in the distance.

Odd rolled to avoid another bolt and came up next to Ulrich. "Is it just me? Or are these guys just getting too easy?" No sooner had he finished than a shot hit him square on the chest, sending him flying several yards. Ulrich stepped in front of him to act as a shield.

He stepped backwards, still holding the blocks off. "I think it's just you."

Yumi flipped over to them and said, "Looks like Aelita's reached the tower."

Aelita stepped through the wall, causing several blue ripples to flow over the wall. Suddenly, the blocks and roachsters stopped. Jeremy's voice rang in from some unknown source. "Great job guys. What do you think of the simulation?"

Ulrich sheathed his sword. "For a moment, I actually thought it was real."

"Yeah," said Odd. "How did you get such great monsters?"

"I hacked into Xana's computer and copied the info. Only problem is that I can't tell them to NOT attack Aelita, so she's still in danger. Ready for materialization," he said as he pressed "Enter."

AT SCHOOL NEXT TO CAFETERIA

"If we keep this training up, Xana won't stand a chance next time," Yumi exclaimed.

The bell rang throughout the school, ending their conversation. "Well," Jeremy said, "better get to class."

Odd got a half scared, half shocked look on his face. "Ah, man. We got that science test today."

"Didn't you study?" Yumi asked.

"You know Odd doesn't study," Ulrich said, causing everyone to laugh except Odd.

"Ha, ha, very funny," Odd exclaimed sarcastically.

With that they each went their way; Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita going to science and Yumi going to her math class.

As Yumi walked in, she saw a boy in the back that she had never seen before. He had dark hair and seemed to be avoiding everyone else. He was typing something on a small palm pilot. She took her place next to William, everyone knew that he had the hots for her, and leaned close. "Who's the new guy?"

"Don't know," he said back. "But he's been writing in that thing he has ever since he arrived in class."

"Is he living here at the school?" she asked.

"Ya, in his own room. I haven't seen him talk to anyone yet, though."

The teacher, Mr. Benzie, wearing his usual red and black scarf, took his place at the head of the class. "Class, we have a new student with us today. Carl, would you please introduce yourself?"

The boy simply looked up from his palm pilot and remained seated. "My name's Carl Philips." With that, he simply turned back to his tiny computer.

"O…K. Where do you come from?"

Again he simply raised his head. "I'm from America, Maryland to be exact."

"Fine," Mr. Benzie said. "Since Carl is new, would someone like to show him around after class?" No one said a word. "O come now. Won't anybody volunteer? How about you Yumi?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug.

"Very good. Make sure he knows where he's supposed to be. Pay attention, Carl, you have a lot of catching up to do."

NEXT MORNING IN LYOKO

Somewhere in the desert, a tower, surrounded by a blue haze, is activated, causing the blue haze to become red. At the base, two tarantulas as well as a megatank sit and wait for their prey.

EARLY MORNING AT THE SCHOOL

Carl opened the door and peered into the showers. No one was inside, but who would be at six o'clock in the morning. Carl, who was a little nervous about taking public showers, walked inside. _"I feel like a criminal," _he thought. _"Why did my parent's have to send me here? I was doing great back home." _He stepped into the nearest shower and quickly stripped. _"I'll just do this quickly before anyone wakes up."_

He turned on the water. It was cold at first, but quickly warmed to a steaming temperature. Carl relaxed for a moment as he absorbed the warmth.

Over by the mirrors, one of the lamps started shaking. Carl, who was washing his hair, heard nothing but running water. With a soft _pop_, Xana pushed out the light bulb and slithered silently to the ground. After a slight pause, he rushed over to the shower and jumped into Carl's ear.

Carl fell to the ground, arms across his stomach in pain, and started flickering like an old television set. After squirming for a few seconds, Xana came back out, unsuccessful, the way he went in and rushed out the door to find a new victim.

Carl stood, one hand on the wall for support, and stared at the door in horror and shock. He let out a soft "Crap," under his breath and turned off the still-running water.

LATER

"So how did you do on the test?" Ulrich asked as they stood outside of the drink and snack room.

"Well, let's just say that even Odd could have figured out his grade," Jeremy said, side glancing at Odd.

Jeremy, Ulrich and Aelita broke out in laughter at the joke. Odd just kept his small scowl.

Sissy walked over to them. "Hey, Odd, I heard a report on the radio that there's a lost monkey. Why don't you go turn yourself in?"

"Because I'm smart enough to know that monkeys don't turn themselves in, unlike brainless scum like you."

Everyone laughed as she stomped off.

Yumi came running up. "Hey everyone. Sorry I'm late."

"No problem," Jeremy shrugged. "Oh, I want you and Aelita to come to the factory after school. I think that I may have found another way to contact Hopper."

"Is it actually going to work this time?" Odd asked.

"I hope so. Ever since he contacted us through Sissy, I haven't gotten anywhere. If we can just talk to him, he might show us how to get the antivirus."

"Have any of you met that new kid yet?" Ulrich asked.

"Yah. I've got him in a few of my classes." Yumi started looking around. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Wouldn't know," Odd shrugged. "I haven't met him yet."

"I better go find him. I'm supposed to show him around the school." She turned to go as she waved to them. "I'll see ya' later."

She turned to corner to the cafeteria when Jeremy's backpack started beeping. He took it off and pulled out his laptop. Opening it, he started pushing several buttons. He looked up to the others. "Xana."

Yumi walked across the soccer field in front of the gym, searching for Carl. _"Where is he?"_ She turned her head toward the forest and saw him standing behind a tree. She started to walk over. When she got close, she heard him talking.

"Are you sure there's no activated tower?"

Shock hit her. _"Could he be talking about Lyoko?"_ She crept closer and continued listening.

"I don't know how he was able to find me, but I'm completely vulnerable here. Fine, just get to the warehouse and get to work." He pushed a button on his palm pilot and removed a small microphone from his ear. He quickly came around the tree and almost ran into Yumi.

"Who were you just talking to?" she asked.

"I don't have time to explain" he said, grabbing her and starting to pull her towards the school.

"Get off of me!" she screamed as she wrenched herself free of his grip. "What are you doing?"

"I'd love to explain, but there's no time. So if you don't want to get killed, I suggest you come with me." He turned and started walking away.

With a sigh, Yumi followed. _"Something's gotta be up," _she thought_. _As they were approaching the side of the gym, someone stepped out from around the corner. It was the school's gateman. Carl tried to walk around him, but the man cut off. When he tried again, he got the same result.

There was a small shimmer in the man's eyes. Having a naturally good eye, Yumi saw it instantly. It was Xana.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Just Another Mission

"RUN!" Carl screamed, turning quickly and pulling Yumi as he sprinted away. Charles, the gateman, came after them.

Yumi, with much strain, tried to match Carl's pace. "We have to get him away from the school."

"Yah, I kn…." He panted.

"What?" Yumi asked back between breaths.

"Never mind," he said quietly.

They quickly ran into the trees and hid. They took a moment to catch their breaths. Carl took a peek around a tree. "He's gone," he said in a slight shock.

"What," Yumi asked, slightly startled as well. She also turned to catch a glance. "There," she pointed. Charles was just turning a corner…toward the school.

"Argh." Carl ran off in the same direction.

"Wait," Yumi screamed. When she saw that he wouldn't, she ran after him. When she also turned the corner, she saw Carl running straight toward Charles' back.

With a swift soccer slide, Carl took the man's feet out from under him. With a small roll, he stood. "That's why they call me 'shin splitter'," he said as he charged again.

Jeremy stepped into the main computer room. "Get to the scanners. I'll contact Yumi and see where she is."

"You got it," Odd replied.

Jeremy took his place, a large hologram of Lyoko popping up in the center of the room. "I've found the tower," he spoke into a headset.

Down below, Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita stepped into the scanners. "You're heading for the dessert region," Jeremy's voice boomed over the sound system.

Jeremy fired up the virtualization process and ran through the steps. As the very last command, he hit Enter. "Virtualization."

Their bodies appeared on a large plateau. "Your vehicles should be appearing now," Jeremy said. As the Overbike and the Overboard appeared, Jeremy chimed in again. "The activated tower is at forty-two degrees west."

"Thanks," Odd said, Aelita stepping onto the Overboard with him.

Jeremy dialed up Yumi's cell. It took a moment to answer. "I hope you guys are busy right now," she said.

"The rest of the gang is already on their way to the tower. I suppose you've found Xana?"

"Yah, and we're keeping him busy." Yumi turned towards Carl, who was still trading blows with Charles. Carl wasn't able to land any hits, but Charles wasn't doing very well either.

"Try and keep it up," Jeremy said. "We'll try and finish this up quickly." With that he cut the connection. A low beep erupted from the computer. A red ring appeared in the direction of the three greens. "Careful, guys. You have incoming. One megatank."

"I see it," Ulrich said. Up ahead, a large, black ball was rolling toward them. It stopped and split in half to reveal a large yellow eye in the shape of Xana's symbol. It glowed red as energy started being absorbed.

"Separate," Ulrich said. A large red energy blast erupted from the tank, running directly front and back. Ulrich and Odd were able to split, dodging the attack.

Odd leveled his wrist with the eye. Three arrows shot forward, but were caught on the tanks hard, closed shell.

Ulrich jumped off his bike and land in a cloud of dust close to the megatank. "Triplicate." In a flash, his body split into three separate people. The tank turned in his direction.

Focusing on the center, it opened and started to charge. Ulrich didn't move. "Hello." Odd swooped out of the air and blasted an arrow square in the eye. The tank quickly shut before exploding.

Odd hovered down in front of Ulrich. "Well, that was eas…" He didn't have time to finish. An energy bolt struck him in the chest, throwing him from his board. A large four legged tarantula was kneeling close by, its front two arms aiming toward Ulrich.

He quickly struck a defensive pose, just in time to deflect several more shots. When the creature finally took a pause, Ulrich hurled his sword. It was much too high, and he knew it. "Super sprint," he cried. In an instant, he was behind the tarantula in mid-air. With a flip, he grabbed his sword and drove it into the beast's skull. Ulrich jumped to safety before the wound took its toll.

"That was stylish," Odd remarked.

"Well," Ulrich said, "I couldn't let you have all the fun."

"Great job. Now get going. You're almost at the tower." Jeremy pulled up Yumi's phone number again.

"Hey," Yumi answered. "How are things on Lyoko?"

"Great. How are you doing?" he asked back.

"Pretty good, but you might want to hurry. Carl and I can't hold this up forever."

"Wait, that new kid? He's with you?"

"Yah, and he's a great fighter. It's almost like he's done this sort of thing before," she said a little thoughtfully.

"No casualties, I hope."

"No, but we've had a few close calls."

"Alright, just try and keep going for as long as you can."

"Don't worry. We will." Yumi ended the conversation. She hadn't completely lied, but they were fighting a lost battle. Carl was fighting well, but it was not the usual style she had seen. He conserved his energy, and tended to strike strategically instead of powerfully. He was still going, but she did not know for how long; his face and chest were covered in sweat. So far, she was on her third rest. They would be lucky if they lasted a few more minutes.

"There's the tower," Aelita cried.

"Yah, but it's blocked by another tarantula," Ulrich stated. Since he had ditched his bike, he was running on the ground. He looked up at Odd. "I'll distract it while you take Aelita go around to the back."

"You got it." Odd turned his board over the lip of the plateau and out of sight.

Ulrich charged. The big bug lifted its shooting arms and opened fire. Ulrich turned slightly to one side, and then ran right in front, slashing at the thing's chest. It would not do much, except get its attention. He ran off. The tarantula came after him.

Odd let the board down directly in front of the tower. He held his hand out to Aelita. "My lady," he said with a bow.

"Thank you," she exclaimed with a bit of a blush. She stepped off and walked into the tower. Odd turned around, but was not fast enough to see the blast that struck him square in the chest. Odd's body flew back and vanished.

Carl's chest hurt. He had almost no feeling in his arms. He didn't care. He kept fighting. Some of his punches and jabs hit, but there was no sign of pain for any of them. So far, Carl had accumulated several bruises and a few cuts.

A small crowd had gathered inside of the nearby buildings, watching. None of them were brave enough to help. Yumi, who was too exhausted to fight any more, helped those who may have been caught in the crossfire get to safety. She was still trying to walk, but was quickly running low on energy.

Carl charged again. Charles held up his hand, a blue wad of energy pulsating in his palm. There was a large flash as Carl was thrown back. "No," Yumi tried to scream, but her battery simply ran out. She collapsed in the dirt.

Xana walked across and stood over Carl. He held up his hand again with the same blue energy.

Aelita landed lightly on the top platform. She slowly walked into the center as a holo-screen appeared before her. She placed her hand over it and entered the code.

Charles stood still for a moment. Carl's eyes were a mix of anger and fear. Suddenly, the eyes that were Xana flickered and faded. Charles' body fell limp. With a breath of relief, Carl stood and walked over to Yumi. He placed his hand under her head. "You all right?" he asked softly.

Her eyes were slightly open, and all she could manage was a slight nod.

Carl looked around. "With something this major, there's going to have to be a return-to-the-past."

Yumi's eyes shot open.

He looked back down at her. "We'll talk later."

Jeremy pressed the final key. "Return to the past, now."

As the light engulfed the school, Yumi's only expression was one of pure shock.

**Surprised? I hope so. Next chapter will explain Carl's strange comment.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Chapter 3:

Secrets Revealed

The group was standing outside the cafeteria, shortly before their first class. Yumi suddenly remembered what Carl had said just before going back in time. "Hey guys, I think there's something weird about Carl."

"You mean other than the fact that he's a great fighter?" Jeremy asked.

"When I found him, he was behind a tree talking about activated towers."

"And, your point is…?" Odd's voice trailed off.

"And, just before the return-to-the-past, he knew it was coming." Everyone's eyes bulged. "And he said 'We'll talk later'. I think he knows about Lyoko."

"That's impossible," Jeremy said, shaking his head. "And even if he did, he probably won't remember anything now."

"There's still a chance, though," Aelita pointed out.

The bell rang. "Let's all meet back here after class."

Yumi walked into the room; Carl was sitting in the same spot. He had the same palm pilot out and was typing away. She sat down with William. "You see the new guy?" she asked softly.

"Yah." he said back. "But he's been writing in that thing he has ever since he arrived in class."

The teacher, Mr. Benzie, wearing his usual red and black scarf, took his place at the head of the class. "Class, we have a new student with us today. Carl, would you please introduce yourself?"

The boy simply looked up from his palm pilot and remained seated. "I'm Carl Philips." With that, he simply turned back to his tiny computer.

"O…K. Where do you come from?"

Again he simply raised his head. "I'm from America, Maryland to be exact."

"Fine," Mr. Benzie said. "Since Carl is new, would someone like to show him around after class?"

Yumi raised her hand. "I will, sir."

"Why thank you Yumi. Carl, see Yumi after class. And pay attention, you have a lot of catching up to do."

After class, Carl walked up to her. "Hey. So were do we go from here?"

"_That's a nice introduction."_ "Before we go to the next class, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine."

Carl shrugged in a "sure-why-not" sort of way.

They walked down to the cafeteria. Everyone else was already there. "Hey Yumi," Odd called. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Carl. Carl, this is Jeremy, Aelita, Ulrich, and lastly, Odd."

Carl gave Odd a strange look. "That's clear, but what's his name?"

Everyone broke out in laughter. Odd started glaring. "So what do you like to do?"

"Basic stuff. Video games, reading, soccer."

"Oh, video games. You mean, like _virtual_ reality?" Odd put a major emphasis on "virtual."

"Sort of…" he replied.

"By the way," Yumi chimed in. "That was some great style you showed earlier."

"What?" Carl's face twisted into a very confused look.

"You know, when you were fighting Xana."

His face changed into an unreadable expression. "What?" he asked in a low tone.

"I told you he wouldn't remember anything," Odd shrugged.

Carl held up his hand. "Shut up." He turned back to Yum. "How do you know about Xana?"

Everyone gasped in shock. That was certainly unexpected. The next bell rang. Jeremy walked over to Carl. "I've got a lot of questions for you," he stated, straight into his face. "We'll meet at the man-hole cover after school."

Everyone nodded agreement and walked off. "Fine," Carl said. "But you better have some answers for me, too."

It was around four o'clock when Carl and Yumi arrived in the clearing. Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita were sitting against a tree; Jeremy hadn't shown up yet. Carl was firing questions at Yumi, but she remained silent. "You're not going to get an answer out of her," Odd said. "She's probably going to wait for Jeremy."

Right then, Jeremy came jogging into the opening. "Hey, everyone," he panted lightly. "Sorry I'm a little late, but Jim was following me."

"Who?" Carl asked.

Ulrich stood. "Jim. Definitely a guy you want to stay away from."

"Uh-oh. Looks like you'll have to meet him now." Odd pointed off into the woods. Sure enough, Jim came running in their direction.

He slowed to a walk before coming completely out in the open. "So, what are you kids up to now?" he asked as he crossed him massive arms over his chest.

"Nothing, sir," Yumi said. "We're just studying."

Jim turned to Carl. "And who are you?"

Yumi answered again. "This is Carl. He's the new guy from the American east coast."

Jim let his arms hang. "Alright. But you stay out of trouble," he said pointing a large finger at Carl's face. "'Cause I'll find you if you don't." He turned and walked off.

When he was out of earshot, Carl said, "O…k. Weird guy."

"You don't know the half of it," Aelita said for the first time.

Jeremy walked closer to Carl. "Alright. Start explaining what you know and how you know it."

Carl paused, thinking about what to say. "I know that Xana's a virtual being from another dimension bent on taking over the world. I also know how to stop him. That's all you need to know."

"But that still doesn't explain how you know all of this," Ulrich pointed out.

"I just do, alright."

"That's impossible," Jeremy said. "Unless…" The idea suddenly struck him. "Unless there's another factory?"

Everyone gasped in shock. "So I assume that there's a factory here, as well?" Carl asked.

"Well, of course. How do you think WE know about Xana?" Odd shrugged.

"This explains the ghosts I found," Jeremy said thoughtfully.

"What are you talking about?" Ulrich asked.

"I was going back through our previous trips to Sector 5, looking for more information on Aelita's virus. But I found these strange signatures, like outlines of bodies and voices. I just thought it was a glitch, but if my theory is correct, then Carl is the ghost."

"Sector 5?" Carl asked. "Do you mean Carthage?"

"Well, this explains how he saw Xana earlier," Yumi pointed out.

"Hold on," Carl said. "I only just met you."

"You don't remember fighting Xana here?" Yumi asked.

"No."

"Xana attacked earlier this morning. After a return to the past, that is," Ulrich explained. "According to Yumi, you saw Xana and knew about the return-to-the-past. But if you do this as well, why did you forget?"

"It must be because of a different system," came a suggesting from Aelita. Everyone turned to her. "Well, perhaps Carl forgot because he's not used to our return-to-the-past. He has only used his own."

"If that's the case," Jeremy said, "Then we should probably get you into our system. You can help us out here." Carl nodded.

"Well, we can't do it now," Odd said. "I've got homework to do. And, it's taco night."

"We'll eat at dinner, then go to the factory," Ulrich said. "Does that please his highness?" he asked Odd mockingly.

Odd formed a big grin and nodded with an "It does."

Odd and Carl were in the cafeteria when Jeremy and Ulrich found them. Jeremy waved them over to the door. As they walked off into the woods, Carl commented on Odd's eating. "This guy eats more than Bradley does."

"Who?" Ulrich asked.

"Bradley. He's one of the guys on the other team. Big stomach. There's also Evan, who's sort of the comedian of the group."

The group walked into the clearing where Yumi and Aelita were waiting. Yumi pulled out the cover and Carl stared down. "This is how we get to the factory," she explained. Carl nodded and climbed down the ladder. Shortly thereafter, everyone was standing in the large sewer.

Ulrich grabbed his skateboard. "It's about a quarter of a mile from here. Should we walk?"

"If that's all it is, then I can run," Carl suggested.

"Can you jump?" Odd asked.

"Yeah," Carl said. "Don't worry."

"Alright." Jeremy and Aelita got on their scooters and the rest got on skateboards. Carl ran a short distance behind them. He was able to keep a very good pace and jump the only gap. When they reached the factory, he was breathing lightly. The others put their small vehicle against the wall as he started to climb the ladder.

Carl stepped inside the factory and looked around. When the others joined him, he asked, "How do you get down?"

Odd came last, running from the back, and leaped off of the balcony, grabbing a long rope in mid-air. He lowered himself to the floor and looked up. "That's how."

Carl took a standing leap and copied Odd's example. He stepped away from the ropes and looked around. "So, where's your computer?" he asked.

Jeremy landed and walked over toward a large elevator. "Follow us." The others stepped in and Jeremy pressed the "Down" button. The door slowly closed and the elevator moved. The door opened into the large computer room. A large hologram of Lyoko hovered over the center.

Carl walked slowly into the room, jawed dropped. "Wow. It's almost exactly like ours." He walked over to the computer screen. "Hello," he spoke to the blank screen.

"What are you doing?" Odd asked.

"Don't you have some kind of person in the computer to run the systems? We do."

Jeremy walked around him and sat in the chair. "Oh, we don't have an A.I. I run the main operations."

"Cool." Carl swung his head around. "The transporters are below this right?"

"Yep," Yumi said. "Let's head down."

Carl, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita returned to the elevator while Jeremy warmed up the scanners. When the elevator arrived, Jeremy's voice came over the intercom. "Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi will go through first. Carl and Aelita will go in after them." The three friends took their places in the scanners. "Transfer Odd. Transfer Ulrich. Transfer Yumi." The scanner doors shut and began to _whurr_. "Scanner Odd. Scanner Ulrich. Scanner Yumi. Virtualization."

The three appeared in a triangle over the forest region. The bodies slowly formed and fell to the ground. "We're good, Jeremy," Ulrich said. "Send the others through."

"Alright, Carl," Jeremy said into his mic as his hands flew across the keyboard. "Your personal information should automatically be entered as you're scanned. Just step into the scanner and I'll do the rest."

Carl took a step into a scanner as Aelita entered another. Jeremy went through the process again. "Transfer Aelita. Transfer new." The doors closed on both scanners. On Jeremy's screen, a new file opened and Carl's DNA information appeared in a few seconds. "Scanner Aelita. Scanner Carl." Carl watched as the scanner bars slowly moved up and down. But he wasn't scared. It was exactly like home.

"Virtualization."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Chapter 4:

A Surprise for Xana

Carl landed in the forest sector in a crouch. Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd stood in a loose circle and looked him over. His Lyoko form wore a solid black ninja judo. He also had two swords. One hung on his left hip like Ulrich's, and the other was perpendicular across his rear. Carl also scanned the others. Ulrich glanced at the swords. "Copycat."

Carl drew one sword and held it forward. It was smaller than Ulrich's with only about two-thirds the reach.

Jeremy did a weapons check. "Two longblades. Not as long or powerful as yours, Ulrich. Having two compensates for that, though."

Carl sheathed his sword and looked around. "Where are we?"

"This is Lyoko, silly," Odd said with a laugh.

"Lyoko? But where's Regalis?"

"What are you talking about?" Ulrich asked.

"Regalis? The virtual world?"

"This is very interesting," Jeremy mused. "Two factories with two different virtual worlds?" He thought for a moment. "We'll have to look into that, but for now, I'd like to test you Carl, just to see how good you are."

He entered in the command and a block appeared in front of Carl. He smirked. "Oh, man." He reached over with his right hand and back with his left and drew both swords. "It's been a while since I faced off against one of these."

A bolt came from behind and blasted Carl's back. He fell to the ground and twisted his head to see a second block. It charged for another shot. Carl flicked his foot, which just happened to be underneath one of his swords, and kicked it into the air. The rising sword caught the shot as Carl executed a back flip; something popped on his right wrist. As his feet touched the ground, Carl swung his arm in an arc, releasing some kind of large disk attached to a wire. In a flash, he grabbed the sword still in midair and held it over his back in time to catch another shot from the other block. The large disk impacted with the first block's eye, causing it to explode. Carl twisted around to face the second block. It launched several more bolts which he easily deflected. Suddenly he crouched and jumped into a back flip. The same large disk flew past, inches under his inverted head. Carl landed on one knee as the disk sliced through the second block. He yanked his wrist back, which seamed to pull the disk right back to his wrist. It vanished as it hit his outstretched arm.

He slowly stood up and looked at the others. They all had their arms and chins hanging in stunned amazement. "Cool," Odd said. It was the only response he got out of them.

"Hold on," Jeremy said. "Let me see that disk thing again."

Carl held his arm straight out. It popped again and some sort of blade jumped into the air. Carl caught it by a ring at the end. It was like a very thick curved sword, but black and with only one edge sharpened. It also had a handheld built in halfway down the dull side. Ulrich looked skeptical. "That's what killed two blocks?"

"No," Carl said with a smirk. He gripped the second handgrip and pulled sideways. In a _whirr_, three identical blades swung out and around the hoop and locked into a windmill shape. "THIS is what killed two blocks."

"THAT'S A DEMON-WIND SHURIKAN!" Jeremy screamed.

"Calm down, Einstein," Odd said. "What's a demon-wind shukihan?"

"A demon-wind shurikan. It's a weapon mentioned in old Japanese legends. But none were ever found."

Carl placed the weapon on his wrist and it spun back into his arm. He looked up, down a path. Two crabs turned a corner and started walking towards them. "Giving me some more, eh?"

"Those aren't mine," Jeremy answered. "You've also got two megatanks coming from the other direction."

Carl drew both swords again. "You guys take the tanks. I can handle the crabs. They're still red level."

"What do you mean by that?" Yumi asked. But the two tanks caught her attention. One stopped, opened, and began charging while the other continued toward them.

The gang sidestepped as the death ray ran toward them. Odd launched several arrows, but was too far to get a hit. Suddenly, he vanished as the second tank got a direct hit.

Yumi charged forward and avenged her friend by slicing the megatank's eye with her fan. She raised her hand to catch her weapon, but never got a chance. The first megatank flattened her under a ton of metal and muscle. As her body vanished, it turned and opened, it's eye glowing as it glared at Aelita. Ulrich swooped in and buried his sword into the yellow eye. He jumped away as it exploded.

Carl continued blocking shots from both crabs. When he finally reached a small break, he sheathed his right sword and hurled his shurikan yet again. It missed majorly to one side. Carl kept blocking the crabs' shots with one sword. When it looked like he may lose, he held up his arm and caught the deadly disk…from the opposite direction. With a yank, he pulled the wire tight around the crab's legs like a StarWars snowspeeder. The crab's heads bashed together in a metallic _clang_. Carl jumped high and buried both swords into their waiting skulls.

He leapt to safety, and Ulrich ran up to him. "Nice work."

"Thanks. Where's Yumi and Odd?"

"We're ok, guys," Yumi called through the computer. "The tanks got us."

Carl looked around. "Where's Aelita?"

Another red dot appeared on Jeremy's screen. "Oh no. It's the skithezoa!"

Carl and Ulrich turned simultaneously. The giant monster already had Aelita in its grasp. Carl sheathed his swords. "HEY, SQUIDFACE! WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMEONE WHO CAN FIGHT BACK?" Suddenly, he vanished in a puff of black smoke. No sooner had he disappeared than he had reappeared in the same black smoke, midair only feet from the skithezoa, shurikan in hand. He threw it and vanished again. The massive blade sliced through most of the tentacles holding Aelita. Carl reappeared on the other side just in time to catch his weapon and through it again. He continued his teleporting and throwing until, only a few seconds later, none of the skithezoa's tentacles remained. Carl caught the blade again, but disappeared before throwing it. The monster began to retreat. Carl appeared overhead both swords extended. "TORNADO DIVE!" He pointed both swords straight down as began to spin as he quickly gained speed on his descent. He landed in a flash, swords hilt-deep in the skithezoa's translucent skull. It slowly began to crack and erupted in a massive explosion.

Everyone stared and gasped. Jeremy was the first to recover. "I don't believe it. You KILLED the skithezoa!"

Carl was panted lightly. "So? It was a monster, and monsters can be killed. What was it doing to Aelita, anyways?"

"It's trying to steal Aelita's memory," Ulrich explained. "I guess we won't have to worry about it now."

"No. Xana will probably just create another one," Jeremy said.

Carl butted in, "Well, I would like to see the rest of this world. If I'm going to help you, I should know where I'm fighting."

Everyone of earth nodded in agreement. "Alright then," Jeremy said as he pressed some buttons. "The forest realm's transport tower is 45 kliks south."

The next half-hour was spent exploring Lyoko. Surprisingly, Ulrich and Carl did not encounter any more monsters. Yumi, Odd, and Aelita decided to turn in, so they left after the second sector. The last sector they visited has the ice region. After traveling for a bit, Carl looked up. "Hey Jeremy, before we finish, I'd like to visit Carthage."

"Are you sure? It's really dangerous there."

"I think I'm familiar with it, as long as it's the same place."

"Alright, then. To your right is the launch point. Wait there." Jeremy proceeded to enter the code that gained them entrance. "Scipio." The large white orb descended and collected the waiting passengers, and flew them into the core of Lyoko.

Carl was instantly scanning as the orb deposited them into a large, spinning room. "Yep. This is definitely Carthage. I suppose you're still fighting creepers?"

"Yah, but what do you mean by 'still'?" Ulrich asked.

"Well, after a while, me and the rest of our squad got extremely good at defeating Xana's monsters. To keep up, he actually upgraded himself and created stronger ones."

"Get ready. The wall's about to open," Jeremy called down. The wall slowed to a stop and a gap opened directly in front of Carl and Ulrich. "You now have 5 minutes to find the trigger." The pair ran from one room to the next, scanning the walls. Eventually, "There it is. Up the wall to your right."

Ulrich looked up. There were almost no handholds. "How are we supposed to get up there?" Carl vanished in a puff and reappeared to press the button. He quickly jumped back over to Ulrich. "That was fast."

"What the… Hey guys, look behind you!" Ulrich twisted, hand reflexively on his sword hilt. What he saw made him gasp. In front of him were three…somethings. They looked like people, but were see-through, almost like ghosts. One was blonde in a white and blue basketball jersey and shorts. He was holding two large red balls, one in each hand. Another was in a brown robe, head shaven. The last was HUGE. He stood a head above the others and must have weighed more than both of them put together. He had a jaguar-skin Tarzan outfit and what looked like a large hammer across his back. But they seemed equally as startled as he was.

Carl seemed to jump at them. "Hey! How'd you guys get here?" The three stepped a little closer and seemed to relax. The big one mouthed some words, but Ulrich couldn't hear anything.

"Uh, Jeremy?" he called. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure. Their patterns match the ghosts I found earlier. It must be Carl's team in the opposite Lyoko and their signal is sort of bleeding over to us."

Carl tried calling to them again, but got the same response: mouth with no words. Instead, he held up his hands and started making gestures. "What are you doing, now?" Ulrich asked.

"We made up a little hand language of our own. I'm explaining about this Lyoko." The blonde signed back. "'Is there some way to jump?'" Carl moved his hands again. "We don't know." Suddenly, bolts caught both Ulrich and Carl square in the back. They were on earth before they knew what had happened.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Chapter 5:

First Contact

The scanner door opened to a panting Carl. "Holy sh- crap. What was that? Crawlers?"

"Sorry, guys," Jeremy said. "I didn't see them coming. I was trying to figure out how we could see those other people."

The elevator took Carl and Ulrich up to Jeremy's level. "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?" Carl asked. "Carthage is shared in both Lyoko and Regalis. They must overlap, but there isn't enough connection to provide audio."

"So Carthage connects the two places?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh, I get it now," Jeremy exclaimed. "Carthage is the basis for both worlds. You're saying that, if we can get both Carthages together, then we should be able to hear them."

Carl nodded, "And possibly go between the two worlds."

Ulrich interrupted, "But why couldn't we see them before today?"

"I think that the other Carthage noticed Carl in our Carthage and tried to strengthen the bond to find him." Jeremy started doing some stuff on the computer. "I think I can enhance the connection manually. But the others would have to do the same thing at the same time."

Carl walked closer. "I can get a chat line going, but I think that we should wait 'till tomorrow. It's really late."

"Good point." Jeremy shut the interface down with a yawn and walked out with the other guys.

Carl turned out to be quite a smart guy. The next day progressed fairly uneventfully after Jeremy explained all to the girls. Carl did get a laugh, though, when Sissy made a joke about Ulrich and Yumi, causing them both to blush.

That night, they all met again in the factory. Since they were currently in France, and having to make up for the time difference, they waited until 9 o'clock. Jeremy let Carl onto his seat. "Let's see if we can get this connection up."

Carl pulled up an internet window and accessed . Odd laughed. "You're joking, right?"

Carl glared at him. "Safety precaution. We don't want anyone tracing us, so we set up a Tribolt web system." Odd's face didn't move. "Would you mind explaining Jeremy?"

"Sure. Basically, you create a user name in one place with two or three false names. Then, at each of those places, you create links to even more names. The process continues through a couple hundred sites with only one correct access line."

"Oooooookay…"

"Just watch this," Carl said. He typed in a line on the search bar. '**RC ZENOS BETA**' "You have a mic here, right?" he asked Jeremy. He nodded and Carl turned back to the computer. "Alpha Zen Code Theta Delta Uno." The white screen disappeared and a single dot glowed in the center of the screen. Slowly, four lines drew out and ended at more dots. Then sixteen lines spread from those dots to even more dots. The web expanded as the picture zoomed further out. After fifteen seconds, there was an impossibly intricate web of thousands of points and millions of lines. One of the original lines slowly filled blue. Then another, adjacent one. Carl pointed at the screen as the color drew a path across the web. "This is the actual access path." It passed through twenty more points before stopping. The screen flicked black and then turned a slight blue. "Can you hear my Zen?"

"Carl!" A female face appeared in the top right corner. She was about in her mid-twenties, with blonde, shoulder length hair. "It's good to see you again."

"Same here. Are Evan and Brad there?"

"Just a moment." A second later, two more screens opened, one under Zen showing the monk-like boy from Carthage and a larger one to the left with two human boys.

Carl held up his hand. "Hey, guys. You getting' this signal all right?"

"We hear you and see you," one of the two boys said. He was clearly the blonde from Carthage. "What's going on over there, Carl," the other guy asked. He must have been the other character, but his human size was smaller than his Lyoko version.

"You're not going to believe this, but there's another team here in France. They've been fighting Xana, but in a different Regalis." He continued his story, ending with "We can probably get the two places together."

The lone Lyokian kid finally spoke. "It must be done from the Carthage interface at the same time in both dimensions."

Carl looked at his screen. "How do you know that?"

"I'm not sure."

Carl then remembered that he was with others. "Oh, I almost forgot. This is the new team." He went through their names, pointing each one out. "Ulrich, Aelita, Jeremy, Yumi, and Odd."

The blonde laughed. "That's obvious, but what's his name?"

Every laughed, hearing the joke again. Carl was the first to recover. "Anyway," he said pointing to the screen. "This is Bradley," the big hammer man, "Evan," blonde, "Kreilin," Lyoko monk, "and our computer whiz, Zen."

Carl dismounted so Jeremy could get back to his post. "So, Kreilin, right? What were you saying just now?"

"I'm not sure. It just popped into my head. I don't know what it was."

Jeremy thought for a moment. "I think we can do it, but I would need to take some time to isolate the connection and find the right file to strengthen it."

Evan's eyes bulged a bit. "You can do that?"

Jeremy smiled. "I'm a bit of a whiz. I even made vehicles for our team."

Brad stepped forward slightly. "No way! I tried doing that but I had to have Zen make them instead. How did you adjust the lockup matrix?"

Jeremy's smile grew bigger. "Well, I first had to bypass the modulation generator, then override the computer's self-adjustment protocols and…"

"Uh, Einstein," Odd butted in. "As much as we love your very exciting story, we would like to know, how long?"

Jeremy's smile disappeared. "Well, if I work as much as possible, then maybe a few weeks. But if Zen were able to help, I might be able to do it in a couple of days."

Zen nodded with "I do not require sleep, so I can work 24/7."

Carl also nodded. "Excellent. Oh, by the way," his face loosened, "how was the service the other day?" he asked in a soft voice. Everyone on the other end fell silent.

Brad stepped back slightly. "Uh, I've got to go. Homework and…stuff." He turned and walked off screen. "See ya."

"Still sensitive about it?"

"Yah," Evan nodded. "It was a good service, though. The family must have gotten a dozen or so bouquets."

The Lyoko gang produced questioning faces, but Yumi was the first to ask. "What service."

Carl moved front of Jeremy. "I'll explain in a few minutes," he said as he punched in another command. "Zen, start working on that connection and I'll talk to you guys later." Zen, Kreilin, and Evan both said goodbye and Carl hit 'Enter'. Everything returned to Jeremy's normal screen as if nothing else had ever been there. He then turned to everyone else and sat down. "Alright, now I'll tell you. The people on the screen weren't the only other members of our team. We had one more teammate, Sarah. She was our surface contact. Whenever the three of us would go to Lyoko, she would stay on earth and make sure nobody got hurt. Until **she** ended up getting hurt. It was a night attack. Xana tried taking over a few cars and destroying a few homes. We ended up stopping him, but not before he pinned Sarah to a tree." Everybody gasped. "She died just before the return-to-the-past. The next morning, she was found dead in her bed. Everyone thought that she simply died in her sleep." A tear fell slowly down his cheek. He wiped it before continuing, "Brad was the one that took it the hardest. Sarah was his first girlfriend. They had been going out for a few months. Apparently he still hasn't gotten over her. The funeral was a few days ago. And I couldn't be there." A silence fell over the group. Was this why Carl was so silent all the time? "That's why we keep fighting. We wanted to shut down the computer, just to keep Xana from killing anyone else, but we couldn't leave Zen and Kreilin."

Ulrich put on a happy face. "We can help there. Jeremy made a program to materialize anyone in Lyoko. That's the only way we got Aelita here." She nodded to confirm his point. But then Carl asked why they didn't shut Xana and Lyoko down. "Well, she's still connected to him by a virus, so if he goes, she goes."

Carl hung his head again. "So it's still no use."

Yumi knelt beside him. "It's o.k. We'll help you get Kreilin and Zen onto earth. But until then, you've made some new friends who can cheer you up."

Then, Carl formed a smile. "Thanks."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt this lovely moment," Odd said. "But if we don't get back soon, the lack of sleep is going to mess up my afternoon nap."

The whole gang laughed with him this time. Jeremy let out a yawn. "Alright, I'm with you. I'll start on the program tomorrow." And so, the new friends walked back to school, eager to begin yet another interesting adventure.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Passion

"Our annual fall ball will be held this Saturday, 7 o'clock in the gym. And I've been told that it is "girls-ask-guys" this year. See you there." The principal walk off and out the door.

Yumi turned her head to the person next to her with a smile. She was pretty certain that William would say "yes" when she asked him. The bell rang and everyone started to file out. It was around 12:30 so Yumi and Carl walked together to the cafeteria and got seats with the rest of the gang. Jeremy was the first to greet them. "Hey, guys. I think that we've made a breakthrough. We may finally be able to join Lyoko and Regalis now."

"Great," said Odd over his mouthful of mashed potatoes. "It's only been a month since you started."

As Yumi started into her roast beef, she caught a glance at Ulrich. He had been looking at her ever since she arrived. _"I wonder if he thinks that I'm going to ask him?"_ she thought.

A loud beeping disrupted her thoughts. Jeremy pulled out his laptop and flipped it open. "Xana's activated a tower."

The stress signal blared loudly. Workmen were running everywhere trying to open the floodgates. The man only known as Boss walked down the stairs, a glowing cigar in his mouth. "Who in h#! closed those gates and why aren't they open?"

One of the men stopped in front of him. "They aren't responding, sir. If they don't open soon, the dam may not hold."

Boss's eyes bulged. "But that will flood half the county!" He jumped over to one of the control consoles and started punching buttons. Something jarred loose, making the whole dam shudder.

A voice from down the hall called out. "Sir, we've got another problem."

He blew out a smoke cloud. "Now what?"

"ALL of the floodgates are opening completely."

"Oh, d. GET THOSE THINGS CLOSED OR THE TOWN WILL FLOOD IN A MATTER OF HOURS!"

"What's he doing?" Ulrich asked as everyone gathered around the screen.

"I'm not sure yet. He may only be just starting." He shut the laptop. "We should get to the factory before it gets serious."

Everyone filed out and ran into the woods.

Jeremy sat down before the computer screen. Yumi stepped out of the elevator as well. "I'll stay here. The three of you can handle things in Lyoko." Carl nodded and hit the button to begin the descent to the scanner room. She walked to stand next to Jeremy. "Jeremy, there's something that I want to ask you."

"Oh?" He kept keying in commands as he looked up into her face. "It's about the dance, isn't it?" She nodded. "If it's about who to take, I can't tell you. You have to make that decision." He turned back to the screen. "Transfer Carl…"

Everyone landed in a circle in the ice region. Aelita came a few seconds later. "You've got to go 100 klicks north. I'm deploying your vehicles." The machines slowly materialized. Zen had transferred Carl's vehicle over their link. It was quite impressive. It was a long glider, bone white, with a single round engine in the center. Two semi-circular handlebars rose around where the pilot stood directly over the engine. There were also two straps connecting the handles so the pilot could lie down and travel faster. (**A/N: If you've seen "Nausica of the Valley of the Wind," it is the same glider)** They all mounted up, Aelita joining Ulrich, and flew off. "There aren't any monsters around."

Yumi sat against the wall and debated in her mind. _"I like William, but I also kind of like Ulrich."_ (Even though she would never admit it) _"Well, he'll just have to deal with a let-down."_

Jeremy interrupted again. "Looks like Xana has made his move." Another screen popped up on the monitor. A reporter was standing in front of a large dam. "For reasons unknown, the floodgates of the Sudra Mar have been fully open. Local water levels are rising rapidly and many communities have been evacuated, but officials are afraid that the water may overcome the large crowds. No one has been injured thus far, but scientists and geologists say that, if the gates are not closed within the hour, than several thousand people may drown. I'm Lisa Hamilton, Channel 13 News."

"That's strange," mused Jeremy. "That dam is several miles from here. It would take hours to flood the school."

"But thousands will die first," said Carl.

"True." The computer beeped. "Watch it guys. Incoming monsters." He pressed several buttons. "Strange. I've never seen these monsters before."

In Lyoko, everyone slowed down their vehicles slightly. Ahead of them, three large black blotches appeared over the ground. Each slowly contracted as mounds rose from each one. "I think I have," said Carl as he pulled his glider to a halt. "I believe these are shadow clones." The large lumps grew bigger and began to flow and mold. Suddenly, three figures were crouched on the ground. They looked exactly like Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi, except totally black with glowing red eyes. "Yumi, you might want to get down here."

"I'm on my way," she said before running to the elevator.

"What's a shadow clone?" Ulrich asked. "And why aren't they moving?"

"Shadow clones are basically you, but not quite as intelligent. I've fought them before. You guys are in for quite a fight," he said before laughing.

"What do you mean 'you guys'?" Odd asked.

"I can't fight them. Only each of you can beat your counterpart."

Yumi ran up behind the others. She saw the black clones and took out her fan. This was like a signal to the clone. The dark Yumi also drew her fan and lunged forward. Ulrich pulled out his sword. "Watch out, Yumi!" He swung at the figure, but his sword passed right through like he was cutting a vapor.

Seeing the drawn sword, dark Ulrich jumped. Carl and Aelita backed up. "Ulrich, you can't hurt the other Yumi. Only Yumi can," Carl explained.

Odd stood there, eyeing the shape in front of him. "Why hasn't mine moved yet?"

"You haven't caused a threat yet."

Ulrich and Yumi had been pushed back to back, fighting separate ways. The dark Yumi swung quickly, knocking Yumi's fan across the glacier. As she came in again, Yumi screamed. There was a sudden clang. Yumi opened her eyes and found Ulrich's blade locked with dark Yumi's fan. "Get back!" he screamed as he threw the shadow back.

"Thanks, Ulrich," she whispered as she blushed.

Ulrich spun to continue his previous fight. Between blows, he answered back, "No problem. I'll always be here to protect you."

Something clicked in Yumi's head. _"What? Is he trying to say something?"_ The dark Yumi stirred, drawing Yumi's attention. She quickly brought out her second fan and let it fly. It was a perfect throw. The fan flew straight through the neck. The shadow clone melted back into a large puddle and vanished.

Ulrich kept blocking and attacking. _"This clone is good. Neither of us can land a hit._" Ulrich saw a gap for a split second and took it. He knelt down and left, ducking under a horizontal sweep. He then brought his blade straight up the height of the clone and out its head. It too slumped back into a puddle.

Odd hadn't moved for the whole battle. He simply knelt there, looking like the clone's clone. He finally came up with a plan. He raised his wrist. "Laser arrows." Three arrows flew off, only degrees difference from each other. The first whizzed past to the right of the dark head by mere centimeters. It quickly ducked left to avoid the next coming at its head…straight into the third arrow. Instant kill. Odd stood as his clone oozed away.

Ulrich looked around, but couldn't find Carl and Aelita. "Where'd Carl and Aelita go?"

"They went for the tower," Jeremy answered. "Nice fighting, by the way. Carl said that you should stay there."

No sooner had he spoken then three glowing blue orbs appeared over where each of the shadow clones disappeared from. Each hovered for a second, and then flew into the gang, one into each body. Pain coursed through their bodies as a strange energy spread throughout. After several seconds, they were simply lying on the ground, limp.

"WHAT?"

"Jeremy, we made it to the tower. Don't worry about the others. They'll be fine."

"Did you encounter any monsters?" His voice was a little shaky with fear for his friends.

"No. The shadow clones should have drained Xana's strength. Get a Return ready."

He entered in the command, but held off on initiating until Aelita called to tell him that the tower had been deactivated. Everything whited out as time rewound.

"Our annual fall ball will be held this Saturday, 7 o'clock in the gym. And I've been told that it is "girls-ask-guys" this year. See you there." The principal walk off and out the door.

Yumi lowered her head. She didn't know what to do. Had Ulrich actually admitted that he had feelings for her? Or was that just a friend thing? She decided to just do what she had chosen originally. As soon as the bell rang, she turned to William. "Hey, Will. You want to go to the dance with me?"

"Oh. OK, sure."

"Awesome. I'll see you later." She joined Carl and walked out to the courtyard.

"Any ideas about what those orbs were, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked while and the others were sitting around the table.

"Not yet," he said as he took a bite of his hot dog.

"I know," Carl commented as he and Yumi walked up. "The shadow clones are basically like a boss in a video game. They appear when your skill level gets high enough. If you beat the boss, then you get a new ability. But this also means that Xana is probably going to get stronger as well."

"Cool. We should go after dinner and see what these new things are," Odd suggested. "It better be worth it, though. That thing hurt."

Sissy strolled up to the table, hands on her hips. "Oh, Ulrich. Had would you like the honor of taking me to the fall ball?"

"I would probably be more honored by taking a monkey." Everyone laughed.

"Ha ha. When are you going to admit that you like me? What are you waiting for? Yumi to ask you?" Sissy shouted in aggravation.

"Actually, yes." He replied coolly.

Beaten, Sissy stormed off. Ulrich turned back to the table, and everyone else started eating like nothing was happening.

"Um, Ulrich?" Yumi said softly. "Williams already going with me to the dance."

"Oh," he said with a bow of his head. He picked up his tray and stood. "I've got to go. I have homework to finish." He took his tray to the window and walked out.

As he was approaching the main hall, someone called out. "Hey, Ulrich!" He turned to find Yumi running after him.

"What do you want?" he asked as he turned.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that you wanted me to ask you."

"Hm." He simply turned and kept walking.

"Hold on a moment." She grabbed his arm gently, but he didn't turn. She leaned over close to his shoulder. "Remember," she whispered. "Just because I'm going with him doesn't mean I don't like you." With that she gently kissed his cheek. Ulrich froze at the touch and blushed. By the time he turned his head, she was already walking back to the cafeteria. She held up her hand and waved. "See ya."

He smiled and turned the corner. No one heard him jump and let out a soft "Yeah!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Chapter 7:

New Skills; New Stories

"Alright. I'll let off a few blocks. Ulrich, you can go first." Jeremy typed into the computer and three blocks appeared in front of Ulrich. Yumi and Odd were standing back and Carl and Aelita were on earth with Jeremy.

Ulrich drew his blade. "Hey, Carl. How do I use this new ability?"

"You just do," he shrugged. "I'm not sure how I do some of the stuff I can do, but I know that I can."

"Thanks for the help," Odd smirked.

Ulrich took a deep breathe. Then the shots started flying. Ulrich deflected most of the easily and dodged the rest. But one slipped through and caught his arm. He crouched under a few more shots and clenched his teeth. He pulled up his sword and stood. Suddenly, everything began to slow. The bolts, the blocks, even his sword. His mind raced. _"I can see where they're going."_ He spun his sword, catching three bolts consecutively. He didn't even stop moving as he twisted and ducked. Even in his slowed state, he could time his swings perfectly.

Back in real time, Ulrich was a blur. "That's new," Odd commented.

"His brain activity has spiked," Jeremy discovered. "To him, everything is moving in slow motion." Then he looked at His life points. They were dropping, fast. "Ulrich! Stop!"

Ulrich caught it. It was slow and drawn out, but it was there. He relaxed, and everything sped back up. "Triplicate." He split into three bodies and charged, stabbing each block simultaneously. He refused and put away his sword. "That was awesome!"

"Ulrich, your life points went from 100 to 50 in only seconds," Jeremy scolded.

Carl stepped closer. "It's a drainer. As long as you stay in that trance you'll lose life points."

Ulrich nodded. "Got ya. Well, you're up Yumi."

"Try your telekinesis first," Jeremy said as he typed. "I've got a feeling that it's changed somehow."

A large boulder appeared over Yumi's head and started falling. She pulled one hand to her temple and held the other straight out. The rock froze as her body began glowing. With a flick, the rock flew off into the distance. "Enhanced telekinesis. Nice."

"Watch your back," Ulrich said as he finally joined Odd.

Yumi spun to find three blocks running her way and one was charging to shoot. Yumi put both hands to her temple and closed her eyes; her body glowed brighter. She opened her mouth and let out a blood-curdling scream. But Ulrich and Odd heard more, it was like a thousand voices screaming inside their heads. They clamped their ears, trying to block it out, but it was still there. The blocks also started going frantic as Yumi continued screaming. They shook and rocked until they finally exploded. Yumi calmed and the aura faded. "Woe."

"Man, that was like some kind of sci-fi," Odd said as he shook his head.

"It must have been some kind of psychic attack. Your life points dropped by 40." Jeremy thought for a moment. "We'll save this for a last-resort attack." Yumi nodded. "Odd, the blocks are behind you."

He turned and Ulrich backed away. The blocks stopped and started firing. Odd ducked and dodged and let arrows fly. He quickly took two of the blocks out, but couldn't feel anything new. He got ready to fire another arrow when an image of energy flashed through his mind. "_Straight behind, chest height."_ He dropped to the ground and an energy bolt flew over his back.

"What was that?" Jeremy asked. "His brain waves jumped for a split second."

"I don't know," Ulrich answered. "But there is no way he could have done that before."

Odd launched an arrow, dispatching the block, and had another flash image go through his head. He rolled over, just dodging another bolt. He stopped on his back and shot the block that had come from behind. He rocked back on his hands and kicked himself up. "That was easy. Hey, Einstein, can't you get anything better?"

Jeremy laughed. "No, but these will come in handy. Brad just sent me a message. They're waiting to start the fusion. Head to the edge of the sector and I'll send you to Sector 5. Carl and Aelita will meet you."

They gang arrived just as Carl and Aelita touched down. "Hey, Carl, what did you get after beating your clone?" Ulrich asked.

"Mine was the shurikan. Evan got the ability to split his dodgballs and Brad got a shield. You'll see them later if this works." Just then the large eye descended, collected the large group, and flew them towards the center of Lyoko.

They were soon deposited on the floor of the fast rotating room. Odd was clutching his stomach. "Oh, man. I hate taking that trip."

Carl laughed. "Evan feels the same way."

"Get ready, everyone," Jeremy called. "The wall's about to stop."

Just then, three vague images ran towards and through the wall. It was the other team. "It looks like the others beat us here," Yumi said.

The large wall slowed to a stop and the big door opened. "Countdown started. I think the trigger's close," Jeremy said. "One room forward and one room to the left."

The group ran off. They ran along the wall of the first room, skirting a large abyss. As they entered the next area, Odd was first through the door, and something flashed through his mind. He turned and shot two arrows. One exploded an oncoming energy bolt and another flew upwards into a crawler's head. Everyone watched as it exploded as well. Finally curious, Ulrich asked, "Ok, how did you do that?"

"There it is," Carl interrupted and pointed towards the ceiling. He vanished in a puff of black smoke.

Odd turned around. "It's like a get one of my visions, but it's only for a second and very specific. Like just now, I saw the crawler and a bolt coming at my head."

"Sounds like something from Star Wars," Ulrich said, still a little confused.

"Or a cat's natural senses," Yumi added.

Carl appeared behind them. "Alright, you need to get to the external interface," Jeremy told them. "Go three rooms north and use the elevator." They all headed off and got outside without any trouble. Aelita pulled up a holographic screen as everyone else prepared for the imminent space rays. "You'll have to activate the program with the other one and our activation programs exactly. I'll tell you when. Kreilin and the others are at the other interface." He opened another box on his screen. "Are you ready Zen?"

She nodded. "Let's do it."

"Get ready Aelita."

"I'm ready."

"O.k., everyone. 3…2…1…GO." They all hit the activation button simultaneously.

A sudden beam erupted from the tip of the balcony the group was standing on. It shot to the far wall and started to open, slowly coating the wall in a bright white wall of light and energy. They all turned and saw another white energy wall slowly creep on the wall to there left. A similar one, but not as bright, was working on the right. And directly opposite them was another. They were all awestruck. The large circular areas of light expanded until they all began to overlap. Soon, the entire outer sphere was pure white. The beams coming from below their feet popped and shot back towards Sector 5's core. Everyone watched as the light began to fade from the walls into the center of the large sphere. Then, without warning, it convulsed, and a blinding light exploded and filled the room. Everyone shut there eyes as hard as they could.

Jeremy watched his screen in wonder. Suddenly, Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, and Carl vanished from Carthage, right out of the light. A screen opened to show the three scanners open, with the friends lying on the floors, unconscious. A message popped up on the screen. "INITIALIZING REBOOT." Jeremy pulled off his headset and ran to the elevator.

By the time he arrived, everyone was starting to wake up. There were only three scanners, so Yumi found herself on top of Ulrich. She blushed and quickly stood; hoping he hadn't realized it was her on him. "What are we doing here?" she asked as everyone else stood up.

"The system's rebooting," Jeremy explained. "It should be on in a few minutes."

They all went back up to the computer and waited. As they did, Carl opened a connection the Zen to make sure everyone else was all right. They were.

Another message appeared on the screen. "REBOOT COMPLETE. NEW FILES FOUND." A documents folder opened to show two files. Perplexed, Jeremy minimized the screen and tried to contact Aelita, who for some reason was still in Lyoko. "Aelita, are you there?"

Aelita appeared onscreen, a green matrix-type background behind her. "I'm here, Jeremy. What happened?"

"Oh, thank goodness," he sighed, wiping sweat off his face. "I was kind of worried about you. The system did a reboot. It looks like you're in an ice region tower?"

"Yes, I am."

"Hold on. I'm going to materialize you." He entered the code, but only got a large, red **ERROR**. "Oh, no! The materialization didn't work!"

"What?" everyone gasped as they huddled around.

"The fusion must have done something to the program. I'll have to adjust it."

"That's o.k., Jeremy," Aelita said with a smile. "I'll be fine here, for now." Jeremy smiled back.

An image of Evan popped up. "Hey guys, do you have those videos?"

"What videos?" Carl asked.

"Some new files that the computer found or something. You should probably check 'em out if you've got 'em too." The image vanished.

"Oh, yeah," Jeremy exclaimed as he pulled up the folder. "Aelita, you should be able to see these, too."

"Alright."

The two documents were videos. One was marked "History 1" and the other "History 2." Jeremy clicked the first one.

A picture of Hopper came up and Jeremy hit "Play." "Hello. My name is France Hopper, scientist and current father of Aelita Hopper. If you are watching this, then you have successfully fused Lyoko and Regalis to create Virtua. I must commend you on your work. But you must be wondering why or how I created these worlds. Well, it all started back in America. I was researching virtual reality programs and human brain waves, when the US Army drafted me to create a new training program for them. I wasn't interested, but they threatened to take Aelita if I refused to help. I had no choice. For years, I worked to create Regalis before their unrealistic deadline. When it finally came, it wasn't ready. I tried to explain to them that the safety protocols weren't finished. They didn't listen and tested it anyway. Two cadets were sent into Regalis, but Xana was able to cross over into the real world. He destroyed half of the underground complex. The generals had no choice but to shut the program down, leaving the cadets stuck in Regalis. Blaming me, I and my daughter were banished from the country.

"We came to France, trying to start a new life. But the thoughts of Regalis were burned into my mind. I wanted to create another world, proving to those fools that it could be done right if I were given enough time. So, I began to create Lyoko. But, I guess all generals are greedy, no matter where they are from. The French Army discovered what I was doing as well as what it could do. They allowed me to continue, but again used Aelita as a threat. So I strive to complete Lyoko to save her. But, they are getting more and more 'persuasive,' as they say. I don't know how long I can tolerate this." Then, the video ended and closed. Jeremy, completely fascinated, opened the second document, hoping to find out more.

This time, some American whom Jeremy had never seen before came onscreen. He hit "Play."

"This is Thomas Ford, apprentice to Dr. France Hopper. There has been a great tragedy. I was asked by Hopper to remain in America and finish the Regalis system. There was not much to be done. I simply had to install a safety program. Since Xana escaping to earth was inevitable, we used "towers" in Lyoko to control Xana's power on earth. If he does manage to get across, a human team will simply need to go into Regalis and shut it down. But then it got a little out of hand. Soon, I was constructing some kind of time machine. I didn't understand some of the things he wanted me to do, but I did what he said. A few days ago, I got a strange e-mail from Hopper. It merely contained a few instructions. Finish all previous work, connect the two worlds, Regalis and the one that he was working on, hide some files, and do a few other tasks. That wasn't very strange, but at the end, he added lines that read, 'I must do one last thing. It is the only way to escape their greed and abuse. Farewell.'

"Yesterday, France Hopper went into Lyoko with his daughter, Aelita. I looked at the system, but France had forgotten to finalize the protection protocols. The French Secret Service shut Lyoko down, trapping Hopper and Aelita in Lyoko, just like the two cadets here in America. One of the orders he gave me was to 'finish anything left undone.' So I completed the safety features just this morning. This video is his last request. He asked me to say, 'For you who are using Virtua, enjoy, but remember your duty.' And, 'Exit is limited by entry,' whatever that means. Well, I guess that's it. Just one more thing." The man leaned in close. "Don't let our work go to waste." The screen blanked and closed.

Everyone stood silently for a while and let everything they heard sink in. Even Aelita was speechless. "Well," Jeremy finally said, "This explains quite a bit." He let out a yawn. "What time is it?"

Yumi looked at her watch. "Ten of midnight." She also let out a tired yawn.

"Well, I'm off to bed," Odd said as he walked off and yawned. The tiredness was contagious.

"Hold on," Aelita interjected. Everyone gave her their attention. "If I'm stuck here, what will happen at school tomorrow?"

"Oh, that's right. We'll have to come up with an excuse for her absence," Jeremy said, thinking.

"That's easy," Odd said. "Just write a letter to the principal telling him Aelita left to attend her aunt's funeral. Leave a number for him to call that Jeremy can fake." He smiled boldly.

Everyone stared at him. "Is it me, or did he come up with that a little too quickly?" Ulrich asked.

"What can I say? I'm a natural."

With that little joke, everyone decided to retire.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Betrayal

"I still can't believe that they fell for it!" Odd laughed as they all descended into the sewers.

"I know," Ulrich agreed. "It seems that adults just keep getting stupider."

"So, Carl. What are the other sectors like?"

"Well, there's four total. One's a huge underground network of caverns. That's my favorite. Then there's a volcano sector, moon sector, and city sector."

"A moon sector?" Jeremy asked. "I can understand the others, but that one seems odd."

"It is strange. Lots of craters and the gravity is much lower. Much easier to jump up and catch the monsters by surprise."

The conversation continued until they reached the factory. Carl had already arranged the groups meeting to explore the sectors. The other team would contact them before transferring. Jeremy sat down and brought up the connection. "You guys there?"

Brad's face appeared on the screen. "Hey, guys. We're just about ready over here. But I wanted to show you something first. I was searching through the other day and found this one game that I hadn't heard of."

"What's so special about that?" Ulrich interrupted.

"There probably isn't a game available that Brad hasn't heard of. He reads reviews, codes, and cheats just for fun," Carl explained.

"Yeah, I'm weird like that," Brad replied with a sigh. **(A/N-Actually, I really am like that)** "The game was 'Tower Quest 8' for the Playstation 2."

"Again, what's so special?" This time Odd asked the question.

"There were only 7 'Tower Quest' games ever produced. It flopped in 2004 after a pretty good run, but that's not the strange part. There's only one FAQ under the title: 'Final Boss.' Here's the site."

A window popped up on Jeremy's screen. It was a net explorer on the site entitled "Final Boss." Just to satisfy Brad, Jeremy started reading. "'The final boss can be tough, but easy if you know what to do. The Anax dragon is located at the top of the fifth sector and is guarding the game's last tower?' I don't get it?"

"'Anax' backwards is 'Xana'," Brad explained. "And, 'fifth sector' should click something."

"It could be just a coincidence."

"Read about the squads," he persisted.

"Fine. 'The suggested squads should be as follows. Squad one—swordsman, cat creature, geisha warrior, and female tower mage.'" This started to make Jeremy think. "'Squad two—arcane swordsman, berserker, juggler, and enchanter mage.'"

"The second squad matches our group perfectly. And judging from what Carl told us of you guys in France, the first squad is yours. Now read the leaders jobs."

The next line read, "'The leaders for each squad should be hackers.'" Now, Jeremy understood. "What does this mean?"

"I don't know, but it could be useful to keep handy. We're going to head down to the scanners now. Which region should we meet you in?"

"Ice," Jeremy said as he nodded to the others, still thinking about the strange coincidence. They walked to the elevator. "Hopefully Xana will keep quiet for a bit."

In Moscow, a scientist was looking through a large telescope. "Hey, Jim, come take a look at this."

Another man walked over and took a look. "What's this?"

The first man picked up a phone. "If it's what I think it is, then others are going to want to know."

Jeremy transferred the group in not too far from the ice region's transport tower. Not too long after, the three others flew up from the base and landed in a semicircle around the platform inside the tower. Carl immediately walked over and greeted his friends with "Hey, guys" and "How's it going?"

Brad, the big guy with the hammer, walked over and held his hand out to Ulrich. "Nice to finally meet you, Ulrich."

Ulrich accepted the handshake. "Welcome to Lyoko. Care for a tour?" he asked as he gestured towards the door.

He nodded and began to walk out. Evan and Kreilin followed suit. As the left, Carl looked down at Evan's hands, or more specifically, what he was holding. Instead of the red balls from earlier, Evan was holding two bluish energy orbs. "What are those?"

Evan turned and held one up. "Ukemis. Zen gave me an upgrade. They're much better than those dodgballs."

After a few minutes in the ice region, everyone went back into the transport tower. Next they would head to the forest sector.

As Jeremy watched, a warning appeared on his screen. "Oh, no," he said in annoyance.

Several seconds later, the now very large group stepped out of the tower. Jeremy called down right away. "It looks like Xana decided not to wait."

"What's that mean?

"Xana has sent monsters to destroy the white tower. You have to get their before they do, or our only connection with Hopper will be gone. Your vehicles are on their way."

Four crafts slowly materialized before them. But there wasn't any for Brad or Evan. "What about you two?" Yumi asked.

Without moving, the Ukemis in Evan hands began to swirl around him. With a short hop, they swooped in and caught him in midair. "Ready to go."

"I'll keep up," Brad said. "Just lead the way."

"Fine by me," Ulrich said as he mounted his bike. Aelita hopped on with Yumi and Kreilin joined Carl. Soon they were all flying through the forest.

Odd looked back and saw Brad, curled in a ball, rolling along the ground. "Ha ha ha. He's like a big goron!"

"I prefer you not make fun of _Zelda,"_ Brad replied as he tumbled.

Soon, the tower was in sight. Everyone stopped a little ways from the area. Two blue crabs were firing quickly at the tower and two white megatanks were waiting between the warriors and the tower. A little behind the tower, a lone person in a green and white tunic stood with their back to the group.

Evan's face paled a bit. "Blue crabs and holy tanks. Xana didn't want to waist anything, did he?"

"What are those monsters? I've never seen them before," Aelita asked.

"The blue crabs are like red crabs, but they can fire at a much faster pace," Brad explained. "The holy tanks are like megatanks but with a different firing pattern. You leave them to us. But I don't know who that other person is."

"You have hornets coming in," Zen called.

About ten or so hornets flew over the tower. Brad turned to Carl and pulled out his hammer. "Demon blade. Now." He laid his hammer down and Evan and Carl put their feet on opposite ends, grabbing onto each other's wrists. "Here we go." With that, he started to spin. After several seconds, he was just a blur. "Ready…GO!"

Carl and Evan jumped off the hammer and were sent flying through the air. Evan began to twist in the air, causing both of them to flip as they spun. With a massive heave, Evan threw Carl faster, who pulled out both swords just after letting go. Both arms and swords completely extended, Carl became a spinning ball of steel. He collided with the cloud of hornets, ripping through every single one. He caught himself on the tower wall, and pushed off again, just dodging several energy bolts. He landed on the ground in a low crouch, his blades held along his forearms. He looked up and froze, shock spilled across his face. His body convulsed as it was hit by two machine guns from both sides. Carl slowly disappeared, his life points completely drained.

Odd was completely dumbstruck. "How long did it take to perfect that?"

"About three months of hard training," Evan said as he landed beside Brad. "Just a shame Carl didn't survive."

"Aelita, I think you should come home right now," Jeremy called. "It's too dangerous down there." He didn't want to run the risk when there was no tower to deactivate.

"Alright. Good luck everyone." Jeremy pressed enter and brought her back to the tower.

Up ahead, the strange figure turned around. It was a girl with black hair. Her eyes were very white, as if she was blind.

As soon as she showed her face, Brad, Evan gasped deeply. "No," Brad whispered in shock. "It can't be."

"Hello, Brad. It's been a while," the girl said. Here voice was anything but friendly. Her eyes were also slightly whited, making her look blind.

"Who are you?" Ulrich asked.

"Sarah?" Evan asked.

"Nice to see you to, Evan."

"Wait," Odd said, confused. "Didn't Carl say that Sarah died?"

"I did," Sarah confirmed. "But I'm back, no thanks to you. Xana saved me, and brought me back here. At first I couldn't remember a thing, but Xana told me all about how you ran me over, Brad."

"WHAT?! That's insane! Xana was the one that killed you! I was trying to stop him!"

"Ha! Xana told me that you would try to use lies like that. Now, thanks to you, I'm stuck here without any sight." Her body glowed yellow as a large boulder rose up behind her. Suddenly it came hurling at them. Yumi quickly stepped forward and pushed the rock upwards with the telekinesis, sending it harmlessly overhead. "You can't stop me from getting my revenge." She raised her hand and the two white tanks rolled forward. Each began to glow red as it approached. They popped open to reveal their eyes.

Brad jumped in front, arms crossed in an "X" over his chest. "Solid Wall!"

The tanks fired. But instead of firing a circle beam, they fired hemispherical energy fields! Brad caught both of them full blast. Without even faltering, he threw them both off.

Again, Odd was amazed. "He just took TWO hits from tanks! How can he still live?"

"Bradley's Solid Wall allows him to reduce damage done to him." Evan walked up behind him as he explained. He laid both hands on Brad's back. "Heal!" Red energy flowed down his arms and across Brad's back.

Jeremy was also impressed. "Brad's life points just increased. You guys must be the perfect combo: Brad takes reduced damage, and Evan gives those life points back."

"You must destroy the crabs," Zen called out. "The tower cannot take much more damage."

"Alright, then," Odd said excitedly. "Let's go!" he screamed as he charged the tanks.

"No! Wait!" Too late. The tanks opened and fired, catching Odd in the crossfire of two energy spheres. "Stupid fool," Evan whispered. He turned to Yumi and Ulrich. "You two get the crabs. We'll take out the tanks."

Yumi nodded and took her Overwing towards the tower. Ulrich jumped off his bike and super sprinted after her. Evan flew into the air on his Ukemis. "Separate." The two orbs split into four, two under his feet and two circling around him. He flew closer to the tanks as they charged up. A moment later, Evan gestured throwing a ball and the two swirling orbs flew towards the tanks. The tanks opened, ready to fire, but were hit straight in the eyes. Each fizzled and exploded. Evan pulled his arm back like an umpire. "You're out!"

Yumi flew into the clearing, throwing both fans. They sliced through the crab's head before it knew she was there. Ulrich planted himself in front of the other one. He deflected several shots away, but couldn't keep up. He missed one, which struck his shoulder. Before he could recover, the crab lit him up, depleting his life points quickly. It then turned on Yumi and blasted her out of the sky.

Sarah charged at Brad and punched his face. Brad fell back from the hit. He raised his head and saw Sarah over him. "Aren't you going to fight me?" she asked.

"I can't. I love you." If he could cry in Lyoko, he would have.

"Good," she sneered. "It makes my job easier." She held her hand up and several rock fragments joined into a large spike. Before Brad could say anything, he was crushed.

Jeremy was getting worried. They had lost five fighters in a matter of seconds. Jeremy gulped as he stood up. "Aelita, take over."

"What? But where are you going?"

"In. Start the transfer."

**Good cliffhanger? I hope so. Please excuse the last tiny bit, I stink at romance, but I felt that it is needed.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9:

New Threat

Jeremy stood in front of the scanner that would take him to Lyoko. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Aelita called down from the computer room.

"No," Jeremy answered. He had once sworn that he would never go back into Lyoko. "But we can't let Xana destroy our only connection to Hopper." With that, he stepped in. "Go ahead."

"Alright. Transfer Jeremy." The computer brought up his file from the one time he had been through. "Scanner Jeremy." Jeremy wasn't used to the tingling sensation of being scanned, so he felt a bit uncomfortable. "Virtualization." This was what Jeremy hated. For a split second, when his atoms were being deconstructed and downloaded, he felt a surge, as if his body was being thrown from zero to 500 mph in one second. But seconds later, it was over, and Jeremy fell onto forest floor.

He stood up slowly, his stomach churning. "I'm never going to get used to that." He set off towards the tower.

Evan ducked and dodged quickly, neatly flying around the blue crab's sporadic fire. With a flick of his wrist, one of his Ukemis struck the crab's head and destroyed it.

Kreilin and Sarah were having their own little sparing match. Sarah was hurling rocks while Kreilin was firing small pinkish energy balls that formed in his hands. Kreilin was able to get several hits, but Sarah wasn't faltering. "You're going to have to do better."

"How about this?" Evan called before blasting her in the back.

Sarah was thrown several yards away. She glared at him as he landed next to Kreilin. "Don't think this is the end." Her body slowly melted into the ground. In her place, about twenty roachsters materialized. Both of them took a step back.

"This doesn't look too good," Kreilin commented.

Jeremy suddenly appeared between Carl and Kreilin, right out of thin air. He was in a black body-glove type suit with neon green lines zigzagging across Tron-style. Instead of glasses, he was wearing a pair of black goggles. He had a large tube protruding from his wrist, and he had it leveled with the roaches. It flashed and a large energy pulse incinerated about four roaches. "Sorry I'm late."

"No problem." The all backed up to the tower. Suddenly, more roaches appeared down both side branches. They were completely surrounded. "I may have spoken too soon." He turned to Kreilin and held out his Ukemis. "Hey, Kreilin. Give me some heat." Kreilin held his hands forward and mumbled a few words. The Ukemis flared into fireballs. "Thanks. Each of us takes one branch. Kill everything." Evan turned to the left and started wind-milling his arms.

Jeremy turned back to Kreilin. "Can you do that for me, too?"

"Sure." Jeremy listened harder this time. "Krakeno. Use that well. It cost me 20 life points." He turned around and held up a hand. A pink energy orb formed in his palm, which he fired at a roach.

Jeremy turned to the right branch and fired his cannon. Instead of an energy pulse, a large gout of flames scorched several roaches. "Nice," he said to himself. He started to lay waist to the approaching roaches. Several roaches fired off shots through the flames, striking Jeremy twice. He clenched his teeth against the pain and kept going.

Evan finished flailing his arms. The four Ukemis were now spinning, creating a large, flaming wheel. He then pulled his arms close to his side and swung them wide. The Ukemis flew forward, close to the ground. They literally plowed through more than half of the roaches. Evan then got to work on cleaning up the rest.

Jeremy paused for a moment to risk checking on the others. Evan was doing well. He was just finishing off the last four roaches on his branch. Kreilin was having a bit more trouble. He was killing several roaches, but they would soon overcome him. "Kreilin. Switch."

Kreilin took one glance at him before he ran over to take Jeremy's place and started blasting roaches. Jeremy stepped toward the center branch and crouched onto one knee. "Let's see how you like my Digital Virus." A single tight beam shot from Jeremy's cannon, hitting one roach. It froze for a moment and started to vibrate. After several seconds, it erupted into a plume off green smoke. Several nearby roaches were caught by the smoke. They suddenly vibrated and quickly exploded into the same smoke. The cloud quickly expanded onto the entire pathway as more roaches where infected by the smoke and killed. Jeremy stood. "_I don't have many life points left."_ Just then, several bolts ripped through the cloud. One shot Jeremy's chest. Jeremy let out a small scream. Just as his body began to vanish, his mind surged again, just like the virtualization. For a split second, Jeremy wanted to throw up, but his body wouldn't let him.

Everyone was waiting outside the scanner. As the door opened, they all gathered in, congratulating Jeremy. "You did great!" "Way to go, Einstein!" "Nice work!"

"Thanks, guys. But I need to check something out."

As soon as they got upstairs, Jeremy sat down and started typing away. "I need to see how Xana was able to create another entity. And how he got Sarah, of all people."

Since it was a Saturday, the kids didn't need to go to class. To pass the time, Yumi pulled out her Go board ad started a game against Aelita. Aelita was getting pretty good, considering that she had only been playing for a few months. Ulrich and Odd went back to school to get some lunch. Carl sat in a corner of the room reading _The Guide to Surviving a Zombie Attack._

"I think I've found something." Everyone gathered around the interface. "Ok, before the fusion, we each had to fight an entity known as Xana."

"Right."

"My guess is that when we fused the two worlds together, both Xanas were fused as well into one super-powered being."

"That can't be good," Aelita commented.

"How do you explain Xana controlling Sarah?"

"I don't think he is. That probably was Sarah, completely, free of Xana's control, but under his influence. Best guess right now is that during the return to the past the night she was killed, Xana was able to absorb her life force."

"And now that he has double the power, he was able to bring her back?" Carl finished.

"Exactly."

Evan's face came up on the screen. "You might want to take a look at this." His face disappeared and a news station came up in its place. A woman was standing next to an older man.

"Just half an hour ago, astrologist Nick Durum discovered that a comet commonly known as Huron was suddenly veered off course." The reporter turned to the man. "Could you please explain what this means in more detail?"

"Well, the comet normally doesn't come anywhere near our system. But we noticed that the comet has turned inward, with no apparent reason. If it continues on its new path, then the comet will either strike the earth or come dangerously close."

"And how long will that be?"

"If our calculations are correct, 3 days."

"You heard it here, folks. Three days before a comet strikes the planet. Now this will have catastrophic effects if it does hit, but until we know, we can only hope."

Carl tapped Jeremy's shoulder. "If Xana has all of this new power, would he be able to do something like that?"

"Probably not, but I'll do a scan." The computer started flipping through towers, but stopped after one second. "Huh?" Jeremy typed something else. "No way!"

"What?"

"The towers are gone! Almost every one! I'm only finding one tower in each sector." Just then, a warning came up. "And they're ALL active."

**Sorry about this chapter being so short, but this is the best place to stop. Did you all like the suit I gave Jeremy? Tell me in your review.**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

One Path

Everyone ran to the cafeteria. If they were fast enough, Odd and Ulrich would still be there. Aelita, still stuck in Lyoko, was still at the factory. They all walked through the door and sat down at the usual table where Odd was finishing up his fourth helping of Sheppard's pie. "We've got a problem," Jeremy started as he pulled out his computer. He quickly briefed the two on what they had missed. "If Xana has been able to gain this new power, we have to take it away."

"And how do we do that?"

"We have to separate the two worlds. Xana only has this power because there were originally two that had fused with Lyoko and Regalis. If we can separate Xana, then his power will also split."

"But what about the meteor?" Ulrich pointed out. "Shouldn't we worry about that first?"

"That's the problem. Since Xana has been able to destroy most of the towers and activate those that are left, we have to deactivate every one. And, since there is one tower in every sector, they are linking and holding Lyoko and Regalis together. So the only choice we have is to deactivate all nine towers. This will stop the meteor and allow us to split Virtua."

"Wait a minute," said Yumi. "What do you mean by 'all nine towers'? There are only eight sectors in Virtua."

"Ah, but you are forgetting about Sector 5." Everyone drew blank looks. "There used to be no towers in Carthage, but a scan showed that one can now be found at Carthage's northern pole."

"Great. So what are we waiting for?" Odd asked as he stood up.

"Hold on. You know that no one can enter Lyoko for twelve hours after leaving. We have to wait till tonight before we can go in. Besides, we have more than two days. We'll go in shifts so that we can hold the attack for as long a period as possible. We'll have to skip class, but a return-to-the-past will fix that."

"Tonight, then." Carl stood and turned to go. "I may need a few hours of sleep."

The clearing at the manhole cover was extremely dark. Carl sat behind a bush, watching and waiting. A dark figure moved forward. Carl had been developing his night vision for years with late nights, so he could see Yumi clearly. He lightly tapped the tree behind him and Yumi snuck over to the bush. "Hey."

"Good evening." Carl settled back into a position to comfortably wait for the others. "I've been meaning to ask you, what's up between you and Ulrich?" Yumi was slightly surprised by his bluntness. "I can see that you have interests in him, but you are holding back. Why?"

Yumi stared at the ground. She did have feelings for him. She had even openly admitted them to Ulrich. But she still wasn't sure that she wanted to take it much further. "I just need some time."

"That's what Brad said. Look what happened to him."

This really surprised Yumi. "How could you say something like that? He's your friend."

"Yes, but he made a mistake." He turned and looked into her eyes. "Don't make the same one he did." He was cut off by a rustling.

Yumi thought about this for a moment. _"Should I ask him? How do I know if he wants the same thing?"_ Her heart started to pound a tad. She breathed deeply, trying to calm herself.

"You should consider asking him how he feels."

"_What? How did he know what I was thinking?" _One of the bushes rustled again. _"I'll just think about this later. We have work to do."_

Odd came stumbling out of the woods. He was lugging a large cooler. Carl quickly stood. "What's that for?"

Odd dropped the cooler and jumped about six feet back. "AAAHHHH! Watch it, Carl." He reached down to pick up his cooler. "This is just a bit of food. If we're going to be up all night, then I'm going to need energy."

"I hope you're willing to carry it," Ulrich said as he and Jeremy walked past. "Let's go."

After about ten minutes, which would have gone faster if Odd hadn't brought so much food, they were at the factory. Odd set the cooler down in a corner while Jeremy began to establish a connection with the others. "Can you hear me, Zen?"

"Affirmative."

"Let's just start with one of the regions and work our way around. Who should go in first?"

"One person from each team is my opinion," Brad said as his face appeared. "And the one needed to deactivate the tower, of course."

"Alright." He turned around. "Who wants to go first?"

"I will," Carl said, raising his hand.

"So will I," Odd said in a hero-ish voice.

He nodded and turned back. "Looks like you have some resting time. Have someone standing by in case they need some help."

Yumi set herself on top of the cooler. She may be there awhile, so she closed her eyes to get some sleep.

Carl started the elevator. "You may have to face a few monsters that you haven't seen before," Carl said without turning. "I'll try to walk you through each one."

"No problem. We took out those other monsters easily."

"This coming from the guy who didn't get a single attack in before getting killed," Carl said with a snicker.

"Yeah, whatever."

The elevator opened and they each moved to one scanner. "You'll come out in the ice region," Jeremy said. "Let's go. Scanner Carl. Scanner Odd."

Odd, Carl, and Aelita crouched behind an ice pillar. A little ways off was a long, tight path leading to the activated tower. Small clouds floated through the air and a white megatank stood at the far end. Carl shook his head. "Puffers and a holy tank. Not good." He looked at the others. "Not much choice here. We'll need to charge 'em."

"Hold on," Odd said. "What are those puffer things?"

Zen called down to them. "Puffers are a small cloud suspended around a solid core. The cloud is its only attack, since it is poisonous, and does 20 damage for each second you are in it. One hit to the blue core will destroy it."

"Ok. Odd, you need to take out those puffers for me. Aelita, you watch the sky and behind us in case Xana tries to send some hornets or something, and he probably will. I'm going to go straight through. If you can get me to it, the holy tank is toast."

"Are you sure about that, Carl?" Jeremy asked.

"Don't worry, man," Brad said reassuringly. "He can handle himself."

Carl drew both swords. "Whenever you're ready."

Odd cocked his wrist and stepped around the rock. "Take this, monster scum!" He loosed three arrows and destroyed the closest puffer. The other nine instantly started moving in their direction.

Carl pulled around the other side and charged. Odd popped another one when he reached the edge of the path. Two puffers floated at chest level in front of him. In a poof of black smoke, he teleported around them and kept running. He quickly rolled under another and jumped another. As soon as passed them, they turned and started homing in.

Odd aimed and took out two others. "Those guys are all over him."

There were four more puffers between Carl and the tank. The all floated in a square shape, creating a wall of smoke. Carl didn't slow. He simply ducked his head and jumped through. As he passed through, he held out his blades and spun, slicing each puffer's core in half. He landed in a roll and kept running.

"Ouch, that wasn't good," Jeremy commented. "You just took 40 life points off, Carl."

The tank started to glow red, signaling its charge. Odd took a moment to notice that Carl wasn't slowing. "He's even crazier than me. Wasn't he watching last time?" He aimed and destroyed another puffer.

Carl started doing some calculations. He would have to time this just right. The tank opened and fired. As the energy came towards his face, a mental trigger fired. He quickly puffed out just before the blast hit him. The beam quickly expanded to its full range and started to draw back in. That's when Carl reappeared. He came out several yards back, still at full speed, but running just inches behind the retreating beam. _"Got it!"_ He held out one blade. He followed the beam all the way back to the waiting eye. He plunged his blade in. The momentum he had gained sent the tank rolling backwards and carried him up and over. He landed on his feet, pulled out the blade, and jogged to a stop as the tank exploded. He let out a deep breathe and turned to find Odd and Aelita jogging up the path to meet him.

As they stopped next to him, Carl gave Odd a nod. "Nice shootin'."

"Go ahead, Aelita." She nodded and went into the tower. "Thanks. You had me worried for a bit."

"I tend to do that to people."

The tower's energy hue changed from red to blue. Jeremy again called down. "Excellent work, guys. Join Aelita in the tower and head for the forest region." Carl and Odd walked through the tower wall.

**A/N: Again, not the longest chapter, but this is starting to get good. I wonder what will happen next! I can't wait to find out! Don't forget to write a review!**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Perilous Journey**

It was dark. She appeared to be outside. Yumi looked around and saw the school. She was standing outside for some reason. Several lights were on, illuminating the area around her. She looked around and saw someone move through the bushes nearby. "Hello?" she called. Ulrich stepped out into view. "Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you." His voice was very shaky. "I've had feelings for you for so long. Why don't you just ask me?"

Yumi wasn't surprised at all about his words and asked herself why. "Oh, Ulrich, I've felt the same way."

She stepped towards him. He stepped towards her. "Yumi," he whispered.

"Yes?" she asked back.

Ulrich took her hand. "Yumi." His voice seamed to become urgent. He leaned toward her. She leaned forward as well, hoping he would kiss her. She licked her suddenly dry lips. He came close enough for their lips to touch.

At the last second, he dropped his head and pulled back, shaking his head. Yumi just stared after him. He slowly brought his head up to look at her. "I'm sorry, but it's too late." Ulrich slowly started vanishing, as if slowly leaving this dimension for another.

Yumi stepped forward, scared, and tried to grab him. "ULRICH, WAIT!"

"YUMI!" She bolted out of her slumber, nearly hitting her head against the steel wall. Ulrich was crouching beside her on the cooler Odd had brought. Her hair was slightly damp and she was breathing deep and quickly. "You're sweating," he said, concerned. "Bad dreams?"

She slowed her breathing and brushed her hair back, feeling several beads of sweat of her forehead. "Yeah," she answered. "I'm fine."

"Good," he said as he stood. "I was starting to worry when you yelled my name."

Yumi sat for another moment. _"My mind must be trying to tell me something."_ She laid her head back against the wall. _"What am I going to do?"_

Odd, Carl, and Aelita walked out of the tower. "You're going to need your vehicles here," Jeremy said as he sent them down. "It's a long trip."

The vehicles formed a few meters away. Just then, about twelve hornets flew around from the other side of the tower. Carl heard them and turned to see them. "Xana didn't waist any time here. Odd, take Aelita."

"Ok, but should we fight the hornets or go for the tower?"

Carl stepped onto the glider. "Both." He drew one sword and held onto the bar with his free hand. "Let's kick the tires and light the fires." He floored the accelerator and dug one wing into the ground, spinning the glider into a 180, and pointing it back at the tower. He pulled up and shot upwards through a barrage of fire. He barely slipped through and slashed a hornet as he passed.

Odd and Aelita immediately hopped onto the Overboard and zoomed off. "The tower is thirty degrees right and forty klicks ahead." Odd turned off into the woods. They would have to be careful over the digital void.

Odd looked back over his shoulder. Five of the hornets had split off and were chasing him through the trees. Carl was being chased by the other 5 a little ways overhead. A bolt flew in front of Odd's face, pulling his attention back to his flying.

Carl blasted ahead and turned around, flying straight for Odd. "Odd, duck!" Odd dipped a little to let Carl pass overhead. As he did so, Odd also let out a volley of arrows into the swarm of hornets ahead of him. He heard some explosions behind him. When Carl and the hornets passed, he looked back to see a lone hornet following him. _"Carl must have taken out the rest,"_ he thought. Aelita was still hugging him tightly.

The tower appeared up ahead. "Hey, Jeremy, why is the ground moving?" The area around the tower seemed to be wiggling.

Jeremy did a scan. "Monsters. They look like snakes."

"Oh, great. I hate snakes." Odd was hit from behind, and both he and Aelita went airborne. "WOOOO!"

"AELITA!" Carl swooped in and grabbed Aelita's outstretched hand, pulling her in. Odd landed on the path leading to the tower. From ground level, he could see the snakes better. They were long and green. Carl flew by slowly. "Odd, see if you can get those snakes away from the tower."

"You got it." Odd aimed his wrist. After a few seconds, he couldn't distinguish one snake from another. They were too close together. He fired a blind shot, hitting a snake on complete luck. All of the snakes turned and started to slowly slither towards him. "Oh, man. Why did I agree to this?"

Carl pulled the glider around a tree, the hornets in hot pursuit. "Ok, Aelita. We're going to have to hit the ground running."

She nodded her head slowly. "Are you sure this will work?"

"No." He turned the glider to the platform. The snakes were slightly cleared out. Carl threw his shurikan, which impacted and created a clearing in front of the tower.

"You're coming in too hot!" Jeremy called.

Carl and Aelita jump just before impact and tumbled into the tower as the glider crashed into the ground. Odd saw them enter out of the top of his peripheral vision. "Hey, what about me?" The snakes closed in. There were too many. One bit him from the right and others joined in. Soon there was nothing but a wriggling mass of snakes.

Aelita and Carl stopped their roll in the center of the tower. Carl propped himself onto one arm. "Ouch. Hey, Jeremy, what's the status on our life points?" Aelita stood and started upward for the upper level.

"We're good with Aelita. The tower will give her her life points back. But you're down to ten because of that fall. Odd was taken out by the snakes."

"Great. Get the next guys ready. And start a twelve hour countdown."

"Already on it," Jeremy replied.

"By the way, thanks for holding those snakes off, Odd."

"And thanks for leaving me for dead," he called from the scanner room.

Jeremy turned around in his seat. "Who's next?" Having rested, Yumi volunteered. "OK. We're sending Yumi. What about you?" he asked Zen.

"I suggest Evan."

"Start up the scanners. The destination is the desert region."

Yumi passed Odd going into the elevator. "Watch out for Carl," he said. "He'll leave you behind if you're not careful."

Yumi just nodded and headed down.

Carl waited on the lower platform for Aelita to deactivate the tower. After she did so, she jumped down, past him, and into the energy stream. Carl jumped in after her. They stepped out into the desert with Yumi and Evan already waiting for them. "You two take point. My life points are low and I need to be careful."

Just then, an energy beam flashed across the desert and hit Carl in the chest. He flew back and vanished into the air. Everyone started looking around, trying to find the source of the shot. "Cover!" yelled Evan, already moving. Yumi and Aelita moved behind a rock formation and Evan moved behind another. Several more shots flew through the space between them every few seconds.

Yumi peaked out, only to get forced back behind cover. "Jeremy. What's shooting us?"

"I don't know. I can't see anything on my radar."

"Try zooming out and focusing around the tower," Carl suggested as he stepped out of the transfer pod. Jeremy did so. Around the tower were seven monsters. Four of them were blocks; the others were another new variety. "Great," Carl sighed. "Evan, there are three sniper pyramids around the tower guarded by four blocks."

"What?" Evan smacked his forehead. "If that's the case, we're done out in this open territory."

"Snipers? As in they shoot at us from a distance?" Yumi asked.

"VERY long distance. And if we make a break for it here with no cover, they'll just pick us off like crazy."

"Maybe we can make some cover," Yumi said before turning to Aelita. "Aelita, can you make one of those tall, dark slabs for me?"

Aelita nodded and dropped to her knees. She focused an image in her mind of what Yumi wanted and concentrated. She unconsciously opened her mouth and emitted a soft note. Between them and the tower, a large stone slab materialized out of the ground. When it completely solidified, Yumi held one hand to her temple and held the other straight out. She glowed red and the slab lifted out of the ground. She jumped behind it and began to walk forward, pushing the slab with her. Several bolts peppered the rock, but it held solid. "Get behind me," she told the others.

They obeyed and were soon clustered in a group, protected by the floating rock. "Great thinking, Yumi," Jeremy complemented.

They progressed slowly, forced into a light jog because of Yumi having to hold up the slab. But within a few minutes, they were only a few football lengths from the tower. Yumi threw the slab, which crashed onto the ground. Three small explosions showed that three monsters were down. Three blocks and a single yellow pyramid-shaped monster stood in a line in front of the tower. The pyramid looked like the blocks other than its shape. It also had a single eye on each of its three top surfaces.

Evan sent his two Ukemis flying, but the blocks he was targeting spun to deflect them. Yumi let off both fans. One of them sliced the pyramids eye while the other flew past a block and turned to pierce the eye in the back.

Two blocks were left. One of them turned and was about to fire on Aelita when Evan jumped into its firing path. "Bet you can't get me," he hollered mockingly. The block spun and charged its ice beam. Evan flew into the air. Several shots were let off, but none of them hit. He landed onto the ground and the block aimed and fired. Even quickly sidestepped, letting the beam go past him and into the other block. As the beam past, he pushed an Ukemi into flowing ice, causing it to freeze solid. He immediately threw the ice ball. It hit the block's eye, but also pushed through, leaving a gaping hole which lasted just long enough for them to see before the block exploded. Yumi sliced the eye of the frozen block. Another sector was cleared. Aelita entered the tower and deactivated it. "This is too easy," Evan said with a laugh.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

**Chapter 12:**

**Strange Places**

As Evan, Yumi, and Aelita were on their way to the mountain region, Brad could help but comment, "If we keep going like this, we'll be done in no time."

"Don't talk too soon. Carl and Odd still have 10 hours left before they can re-enter Virtua." The three in Lyoko stepped out of the tower. "I've already scanned the area. There are only crabs, but there's lots of 'em."

"How many?" Evan asked.

"Well, that depends. Do you want just those in your path, or all of them?"

"All please."

"20."

Ulrich gaped. "Are you serious?"

"Let me continue. There are 20 crabs in this region, but only five of them are on the path you have to take. The others are spaced around on other rock formations."

"So what you're saying is that instead of one batch, we have to deal with monsters the whole way?" Yumi asked.

"Yep. It's going to be a gauntlet."

"Just like 'Gauntlet: Dark Legacy.'" Brad interrupted. "Here's a tip. Don't bother with the other crabs. Only battle those that are in your way."

"Will you stop talking about video games for once?" Evan asked in annoyance. "Let's go."

Odd walked over to the cooler. "Hey, Jeremy, what time is it?"

"12:08. Why?"

"Good. Time for a midnight snack."

Yumi laughed as she was running. "It's incredible how he can think about his stomach in the middle of all this." They turned a corner in the path. As soon as they did, dozens of energy bolts from both sides peppered the ground; everyone jumped back around the turn.

Evan looked at her. "You want to try the shield thing again?"

"You don't need to," Brad argued. "Just keep running and the crabs shouldn't be able to hit you. Trust me. I've played tons of games that have levels like this."

"Will you shut-up?" Carl almost screamed.

"Hey, it's worth a shot. Listen, Yumi goes first. She can take out the five crabs on the path with her fans. Aelita can go after her, and Evan goes last so that he can block any shots that may hit."

Jeremy thought for a moment. "You know, it's actual not a bad idea."

"You can't be serious," Zen remarked.

Jeremy began running a test program. "No, if they can keep their speed up, it will be hard for the crabs to get an accurate shot." The test finished: positive. "They should be able to make it.

Aelita looked at the others. "It's worth a shot." The each nodded.

"Go as soon as the bolts let up. Give yourself a one-second distance behind the one in front of you."

For a second, the bolts stopped, and Yumi took the chance. She charged into the open. Right after, Aelita charged, followed closely by Evan. Bolts rained down on them from crabs on nearby rocks, but all them flew through the gaps in their line of hit the ground. Evan kept two Ukemis circling overhead in case he needed them. Up ahead was a crab completely blocking their path. It charged its gun and fired two shots. Evan's Ukemis took the hits, and Yumi threw on of her fans. It skimmed the ground before coming up and slicing the monster's mark. It exploded right in Yumi's face.

They kept going, barely slowing down. _"It's a good thing that this isn't real life, or I'd be extremely tired," _thought Yumi.

They turned a final corner and saw the tower. It was in the middle of a crescent formation of rocks. Two crabs were blocking the entrance. Yumi took out both fans, but Evan called to her from the back. "No, I'll take these." He fused two Ukemis into one and sent it ahead. Yumi could see that it wasn't going to hit; rather it was going right between them.

Just as it was passing, Evan screamed again, "Rupture." The Ukemi violently exploded, shoving the crabs out of the way. They staggered long enough for the three to rush through and enter the tower, bolts continuing to shower around them. Everyone stopped to catch their breath and Aelita floated up to the top of the tower. "Hey, Zen," he wheezed. "Can you send me another Ukemi?"

"Downloading."

Evan laughed as it appeared. "I love surprising them like that."

"Well, that pretty much takes care of Lyoko," Jeremy said. "I'll bring you back in, Aelita."

"Kreilin is already waiting for you in the cave region," Zen told them. "Enter the data-stream."

Jeremy turned around. "There's not much I can do from here." Odd was slumped over the cooler, sleeping, with a half-eaten Twinkie in one hand. Ulrich was leaning against the wall with his eyes drooping. "Get some sleep, Ulrich. There's not telling how long Yumi will last."

He nodded and lay down on his back. He was asleep in seconds. Jeremy turned back just in time to see Yumi and Evan disappear. "Hey, I've lost contact."

"Sorry," Zen said. "You cannot interact with them in Regalis. I can provide you with a map, though, and you can still talk to them." A screen opened on the computer, labeled "Cave" along the top. Two green dots appeared at the end of one long tunnel. "I can also provide video feed." An image of a massive cave structure blinked onto the screen.

"This is incredible," Yumi commented.

"Yeah, it is," Kreilin said as he stepped around a stalagmite.

"I don't like this place," Evan said. "I don't have enough room to fly. Let's go." They all set off.

"There are no monsters in the immediate vicinity. Take the next right, then two lefts. Follow that corridor to the tower."

"Thanks, Zen."

The tunnel they were in opened up into a massive cavern, with stalactites and stalagmites. It was somewhat dark and difficult to see. Along the walls, many more tunnels disappeared into the darkness. Yumi gaped at the huge structure, completely awestruck. Droplets of water spattered against the floor and created many echoes. "Is the entire sector like this?" she asked in wonder as she followed the others.

"Pretty much," Kreilin answered. "It's a bunch of tunnels that connect many caverns."

The group traveled in silence most of the way. The entered the last tunnel that would lead them to the tower when Evan stopped. "Something's not right."

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked.

"This entire way and no monsters? Xana's got to be up to something."

Three blips appeared on Jeremy's map. "Watch out! They're coming from the walls."

Everyone leapt back as a massive object erupted from the floor. It filled most of the tunnel and continued flying right up through the ceiling. "What was that?" Jeremy screamed.

"I have no idea," Carl answered in just as much shock.

A little ways down the tunnel, three large worms dug themselves out of the walls. They were each about six feet wide and had gaping mouths. "Monsters scanned. Worms. No weapons or weak points detected."

"No weak points," Evan repeated to himself. "Perhaps it's time to try my new weapon." A devilish grin formed over his face.

"No, Evan," called Brad. "You know you can't do that without killing yourself."

"In that case, you better get ready for virtualization." Evan turned to Yumi and Kreilin. "Get back into another tunnel."

"I'm confused," Carl said. "What move is Evan talking about?"

"It's his Ultima," Brad stated. "One super attack that fries everything. Including the attacker."

"Crap."

"You're telling me," Brad nodded. "The first time I used mine, I almost killed Kreilin."

"I said, get back," Evan said again, starting to get annoyed. "I know what I'm doing." The worms shook and screeched, challenging them to come closer.

"I think we should listen to him," Yumi said before turning and running. Kreilin waited a moment and followed.

Evan saw them go and fused his Ukemis into one. He closed his eyes and held it up to his chest. The floating orb started to glow white and slightly increased in size. Evan crunched his face in concentration. The worms screeched again. Evan's eyes flew open and he thrust the orb forward, DBZ style. "ULTIMA BLAST!"

A giant explosion shook the caverns. Yumi peeked around the corner. A massive, white blast erupted from the tunnel. She pulled back in before her face got fried. After a few seconds, the light faded out. Yumi and Kreilin ventured back into the tunnel. The only things left were several craters. The worms and Evan were nowhere in sight. "Did Evan make it out alright?"

"Yeah," Evan answered. "Man, that thing really drains ya'. Brad's on his way to the moon sector."

"Alright." Kreilin and Yumi ran around the craters and into the tower at the end of the tunnel.

Jeremy checked the timer. Odd had about eight hours left and Ulrich had yet to go in. Yumi's life points were down to forty. He turned to Carl next to him. "Can you take over for a while? I need some sleep."

"Sure. I'm kind of nocturnal anyway."

Jeremy slunk out of the chair and lay on the floor. "Oh, do you know how to virtualize Ulrich?"

"I'll have Zen show me how," he said as he took Jeremy's seat.

Jeremy lay his head down and left Carl as the only conscious man in the room.

Yumi and Kreilin stepped into the moon sector. She looked around, once again admiring the new territory she was in. It basically looked like the moon (go figure) with many craters. Brad jumped out of a crater and ran towards them. Well, actually it was moon bouncing. Yumi jumped experimentally. Without using too much force, she went almost seven feet into the air. "I can get to like this."

"You get used to moving around after a while," Brad said. "The tower is that way." He pointed in a direction. It was hard to tell which way seeing as how they were on a moon. "There are two groups of rollers coming from that direction." He pointed in a direction about 70 degrees from the first. "I suggest we get some distance before they catch up."

"Not much of a talker when it's not about video games, are ya?" Yumi asked as a joke.

Brad took it very seriously. "I can, actually. But in here, it's mostly business for me."

With that, he turned and left them to catch up. Yumi turned to Kreilin. "You get used to that, too." He started after Brad.

"Hey, Zen, can you get me my Overboard?"

"On its way."

The board materialized in front of her. She jumped on and gave chase. She soon came up beside Kreilin. "Need a lift?" He smiled and jumped aboard. She flew up to Brad. "Care for a race."

He also smiled. "Why not?" He curled into his ball began flying through the craters. Yumi flew alongside, trying to keep up. To a casual passerby, they would look like a ship and dolphin as Brad flew up out of one crater and landed into another.

Zen broke up the fun. "Rollers incoming."

Brad came to a stop and stood up. Yumi continued circling until she saw them. The rollers simply looked like several tiny orbs rolling along the ground in a line. They were two of them, one running close behind the first. She came down next to Brad. "Those rollers don't look very tough."

Brad snorted. "But just taking out one isn't enough. You have to destroy the entire line."

"So one roller is just one orb? OK, maybe this will be harder than I thought."

Brad took the hammer off of his back. "They like to jump up and slice through the midrib area. The trick is to get them as they pass. Your fans should do nicely."

Yumi could tell that she wasn't going to like this one as much. The rollers jumped out of a crater and came rolling toward them over a plane. "Give your fans a try."

Yumi let a fan fly. It dipped close to the ground and destroyed two rollers easily. Without slowing, the other five moved together to form a new, slightly smaller line. The line suddenly jumped toward Yumi's chest. Brad ducked and rolled out of the way. Yumi just ducked. The first line flew over her head, but she forgot about the second line. It quickly followed and cut through her calves.

"Yumi, you've only got twenty life points left," Jeremy warned. "Be careful."

"Try attacking them from the side," Brad suggested.

The lines turned for another pass. This time, Yumi knew what to do. The first line jumped. She rolled to one side and threw a fan. It connected with the passing rollers and continued threw, slicing the entire line. She caught the fan with a flourish. "Yeah."

"Watch it, Yumi." Without warning, the other line cut through Yumi's legs. She crumpled in a soft scream and vanished.

"I hate these things," Brad whispered under his breath. The second line turned to him and jumped into the air. Brad pulled his hammer back and swung a full 360, smashing every last roller. "Annoying little things." He holstered his hammer and continued to the tower. "Have Ulrich join us."

"Man, Brad," Carl said. "You need to add some fun to your fights." He turned to wake up Ulrich.

"Thanks, but I'll do my job the way I want to."

"Ulrich, your up."

Ulrich jumped a little, and then wiped his eyes. "Sure."

He walked over to the elevator were Yumi was coming out. "Good sleep?"

"Sure, whatever."

**A/N: Thanks to everyone that gave me monsters. Check my forum for names if you want to use them. But I can still use a few more, so please keep posting.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

**Prehistoric Fire**

**Disclaimer: Don't know when I last did this, so…yah. I don't own Code Lyoko. Several of the monsters used are also not mine (thanks for those are at the end of this chapter). I do own Brad, Carl, Evan, Zen, Kreilin, Regalis, and all related plots and bla, bla, bla, you know the rest.**

Ulrich wiped the last of the sleep from his eyes as he stepped into the scanner. The sudden rush of virtualization was like a bucket of water, pulling him into complete alertness. When he finally completed the trip, he landed in a strange land that he had never seen before. All around him was steaming rivers of lava and a few geysers. The ground was sloped, reaching up to a peak that spewed lava and fire. "Welcome to the volcano region," a voice said behind him. Ulrich turned to see Brad and Kreilin step out of a tower.

"It's a good thing we can't feel anything," he said. "It seems like it would get very hot here."

"Yes, and it's also very dangerous, so we better get moving." Brad headed up the incline.

"_What was that about?"_

"The monsters are really dangerous here," Kreilin said. "You'll see what I mean in a little while. And watch your step."

"Do you think we'll make it to Sector 5?" Ulrich asked while stepping around a small piece of vibrating earth.

"Not sure. Brad still has all of his life points and I'm recharged, so it is a definite possibility. But it would be more likely that we will meet Sarah again."

At that moment, several loud roars rose into the air. Ulrich scanned the mountainside, searching for the source. "I hope you liked 'Jurassic Park'," Brad called. He picked up his pace, running up the slope.

"What's going on?" Ulrich asked.

Three red T-rex's charged over the hill. Each stood several meters in height and had two Xana marks, one on the neck and one between the eyes.

One of them charged. Brad suddenly veered off course and ran toward the charging dino. "What are you doing?" a very confused Ulrich screamed.

"You take care of this one," Brad screamed over his shoulder. As he approached the massive creature, he dropped on his back and slid right under the waiting jaws. Sliding past the tail, Brad pushed himself up with his elbow and kept running; the dino didn't turn and continued toward Ulrich and Kreilin. It opened its jaw and let out a roar. Ulrich leapt to the side, causing the rex to just miss his bite.

Kreilin, who also dodged, placed his hand on Ulrich's blade. "Use this." He uttered a few words and the sword ignited into a bright flame. "They usually don't like this one." The dino turned and came back at them.

Ulrich experimentally swung his new flame sword. Much to his surprise, the fire from his sword extended as he swung, creating a large fire whip. The T-rex reared and came to a halt several yards away. As he stopped swinging, the flames returned back into his sword. Ulrich eyed this new weapon with interest. His parents had once taken him to a rodeo, but he wasn't interested at the time; now he was thankful for that trip. Adjusting his grip, he sent the whip flying and let out a large _crack_ next to the dino's head. It roared again and took a step back. _"Now for the kill."_ He concentrated and entered his combat trance. Everything slowed to a crawl. Ulrich knew that his life points would already be draining, so he'd have to work fast. He threw the whip in a straight bullet-shot. It struck the dino's head dead-on. But just to make sure he did the job right, Ulrich flicked his wrist, causing the whip to flip a little and leave a gash over the Xana mark. He flicked the whip a few more times before retracting his whip and letting the world return to its normal speed. The huge dinosaur gave a last death shriek and toppled before exploding.

When Ulrich turned, Brad was already waiting. "Nice work. I don't think I've seen the fire whip used like that." He nudged his head up-slope. "We best move before more dinos arrive."

More did arrive, but they were quickly defeated. Brad had an interesting way of fighting them. He would slide under the jaws and throw his hammer up into the Xana mark on the neck. Before long, they cleared this sector and were on their way to the next.

Jeremy looked ahead to the map marked "City." Three red blips were positioned halfway to the tower. "Do you think we should tell them?" he asked Carl.

"Naw. They'll see 'em soon enough," he answered, a sullen expression across his face.

Ulrich, his sword back to its original state, stepped onto the paved street. All around were tall buildings of brick and metal. Wide streets created blocks and in the distance he could see floating platforms that held more buildings, each connected by a long bridge.

"The tower is in the center of the next platform straight ahead."

"Thanks, Zen." They all started to run, eager to finish their work. They hadn't gone thirty seconds before they ground to a halt.

In the center of the road stood Sarah, flanked by two tarantulas. "We can't let you go any further."

Brad fidgeted at seeing his old friend. Ulrich placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You can sit this one out if you want."

"No." He brushed off Ulrich's hand. "I need to do this alone." He reached back and pulled off his hammer. "Stay back." Without turning he went into a full-on sprint.

Sarah smiled. "Foolish." She raised her arms and two stone walls rose on either side of Brad and closed in. Brad rolled and was able to just escape getting smashed. Annoyed, Sarah tried raising a thick stone wall in front of him, but Brad simply used his hammer to smash it to pieces. He was quickly closing in, and Sarah started to get nervous. "Get him," she ordered her monsters.

They immediately began to fire round after round. Each one found a hit, but none of them slowed Brad down. "Xana, I thought you were evil. But using my own friend against me is just low." He was now a mere hundred yards from her.

Sarah began throwing boulders at Brad, anything to slow him down, but nothing stopped him. "He's not using me." When Brad didn't stop, she almost panicked. "You would kill your own girlfriend?"

He snapped. His raised hammer glowed a bright, hot white; and Carl swore he could feel the fire in Brad's eyes through the console.

He charged head-first through another wall. "You're…NOT…**SARAH!"** He brought the hammer down hard in an explosion of energy.

Ulrich had to close his eyes and crouched down to escape the wind that rushed past. After it was over, he looked up in shock. Brad, Sarah, and the tarantulas were gone, replaced by a crater that had taken out the streets and parts of nearby buildings. "Whoa."

"You're clear for the tower," Jeremy said after recovering.

Evan ran into the scanner room and found Brad sitting on the floor, still in the scanner. "You finally get things settled?"

"Yeah. I guess so." He didn't get up. He simply sat and cried one last time.

"I think you two should come on out. Xana is probably planning something big for Sector 5 and we will probably need all of us."

Everyone agreed with Jeremy's idea, so they all sat down to wait the twelve hours before they could re-enter. Jeremy also did some snooping and found a police report for everyone to watch for "a group of children who have gone missing from Kadic Academy." But no one worried; they would simply do an RTTP later.

Later that night, Ulrich sat at the computer playing a game of Go against Brad. Yumi had taught him how to play several months ago, and Brad happened to know the rules, so there they sat while everyone else slept. They somehow got on the topic of what had happened earlier. "I'm sorry you had to do what you did."

"Don't worry about me. There will be another one later." Brad placed a stone, capturing several of Ulrich's pieces. "Do you happen to have a girlfriend?"

Ulrich looked back at Yumi. "No. I don't."

"I've been able to write a program that will send you straight into Sector 5." Jeremy was giving them the final prep. Everyone had gotten some sleep and eaten. It was another ten hours before the meteor was expected to hit the planet, so they had plenty of time. "I've already scanned the area and the tower is located at the north pole. There is an elevator that will take you to it."

"What about monsters?"

"Strangely, there aren't any. At least from what I could see."

Odd gave one of those "lets go" punches. "Awesome. This is going to be a piece of cake."

"Every time you say that something goes wrong," Ulrich pointed out.

"Ha-ha. Let's just go."

Everyone loaded up and set off for the last tower.

The teams dropped in one by one. The entire gang was assembled in only a matter of seconds.

The spinning wall slowly came to a stop. ""The countdown has started," Jeremy told them. "The key is in the second room."

They all rushed through the first room and into the second. Carl teleported and pushed the button into the wall. A panel before them opened and a glowing white platform rose up out of the abyss. Carl appeared back with the group. "This it?"

"Yep."

They all stepped on and the platform carried them up and through an open ceiling panel. They passed through several rooms until it stopped before a door.

"The tower is in the room just beyond the door. But I can't figure out how to open it."

"Well, it's locked," Odd said after pushing it with all of his might.

Evan pointed high overhead. "There's an inscription. 'Two Become One—The Dead are Reborn.'"

"There are also two handprints," Ulrich exclaimed. Just at head height were two hand-shaped indents in the door, one on either side of the joining crack.

"Two become one," Jeremy repeated to himself. "We've already joined the two worlds to create just one. Maybe we have to do the same thing again. Aelita, you push on one side while Kreilin, you push on the other.

They did as he told. As their hands were placed, the indents glowed white and the door swung effortlessly. Beyond was a long hallway-shaped room about the size of a football field. The tower was in an alcove on the far side.

Odd stepped into the room. "So, we just stroll across and go into the tower. No sweat."

The room suddenly began to shake. "I knew he shouldn't have said that," Brad commented.

Out of the sky and large blue dragon fell, causing the ground to shake violently. It filled the space of half the room. Large wings prevented flight and a massive tail swung back and forth behind it. Its claws were easily the twice of the height of any of the friends and on the forehead was emblazoned Xana's mark. Red eyes set in shining scales glared at each of them in turn. _"You may not pass!"_

"Great. How are we supposed to take down THIS monster?"

"Um, guys," Jeremy said shakily. "That's not a monster. That's Xana."

**Now is where I give thanks to everyone that has given me monsters to use. The pen name is after the monster. Any monsters not listed are mine and you must ask permission to use them.**

**Sniper: Masboy111**

**Snake: AngelofSatire**

**Worms: AngelofSatire**

**Dino: purpletail**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**A Blaze of Glory**

"Well this is utterly inconvenient."

"Hey, Jeremy," Brad said as he pulled out his hammer. "That web site I told you about comes to mind."

Jeremy pulled up the window. "Fighting the Anax dragon. Maybe this isn't a coincidence." He quickly skimmed through. "Maybe this can help."

Back in Lyoko, the fight had begun. Xana was using his claws and tail to try and slash through the closest group while shooting fireballs at those further away. Everyone was spending all of their time simply trying to dodge and couldn't get in any hits.

Jeremy interrupted for a moment. "'Have the tower mage place a barrier around the dragon's midsection. This will prevent it from using its tail and wings in the fight. Also have her create several smaller barriers for protection.' I think that's referring to you, Aelita."

Aelita waited until it looked like she would have a clear moment, then began her song and fell to her knees. A blue wall rose from the ground, holding Xana in place while sealing off his tail.

"Now it gets tricky," Jeremy continued. "Aelita and Kreilin have to do some kind of spell called Rise of Phoenix while the rest of you fight."

The specified persons moved behind a wall and sat Indian-style. Aelita and Kreilin began to chant as Jeremy read off the words. "'Deep from the ash of death arise—Holy beast of fire and skies.' Whatever you do, don't stop repeating."

Nothing happened. Aelita stopped. "Is something supposed to happen?"

"Not yet. Just don't stop."

Carl teleported up to Xana's head and did a spinning slash. But Xana moved his head with incredible speed and shot a fireball back at Carl, who teleported to safety. Yumi and Odd were unloading everything they had at the large mark on Xana's head while everyone else was moving back and forth under, slashing and bashing the chest. Xana was once able to score a hit on Ulrich. Half of his points dropped.

Xana pulled his head back and spit out a dozen large fireballs.

"Scatter!" Brad screamed. Everyone ducked behind walls for protection.

"You're not doing enough damage," Jeremy called. "The head is weaker, so aim for that if you can."

"Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded," Brad said softly.

Odd looked his way in confusion. He was holding his hammer at the end and was tapping the ground lightly. "What are you talking about?"

"One homer to win," Evan called back.

Brad pulled his hammer back over his shoulder and Evan "pitched" him an Ukemi. Brad swung and connected. The Ukemi soared up into the air. "And it is going…going…" Xana weaved his head to one side, but not before Evan ruptured the projectile. Xana let out a screech of pain. "GONE!"

Jeremy watched the life meter drop a bit. "Nice hit."

But Evan wasn't watching. Xana swung his massive claw and sent Evan flying. His body vanished.

Aelita and Kreilin were continuing their mantra. Slowly, a single white orb appeared and began to circle them. Aelita almost lost focus, but remembered Jeremy's instructions: "don't stop." She closed her eyes, so as not to be distracted again.

The battle wasn't going well. Odd and Yumi had both been taken out by stray fireballs, while Brad had been slashed by Xana's claw. Each death produced another rotating orb.

Ulrich and Carl were doing better, though. Carl was scoring many hits on Xana's head by throwing his shurikan one way and then hitting the mark as Xana attempted to dodge. Ulrich was able to run up Xana's legs and leave long gashes along the chest. Until, when Ulrich tried to repeat the maneuver, Xana shook, throwing Ulrich to the ground. Before he could recover, Xana crushed him beneath his foot.

Jeremy chanced a look at Aelita and Kreilin. There were now five orbs circling them. And they were…glowing? Aelita, Kreilin and the orbs were all giving off a bright orange light.

There was a scream. Jeremy turned back to find Carl being bath in fire. Xana must have finally found his tactic. "Oh, no," he said to himself. _"Hopefully this phoenix thing will help. If it doesn't, we won't be able to go back in in time to stop the meteor."_

The orbs, now giving glowing brilliantly, began to spin faster. As they did, Aelita and Kreilin rose up into the air and turned to face Xana. He screeched and blew a breath of fire, but it parted around them, diverted by some unseen force. The two continued their chant, growing louder as they rose higher. Eventually they stopped along with the orbs.

The orbs began to swell and grow. They molded and formed into human-shapes and became transparent. Jeremy looked closely and let out a gasp. The orbs had formed into Ulrich, Yumi, and the others, only their bodies were now made of pure fire.

Without warning, the Lyoko gang flew forward at high speed, each brandishing their weapon. With deadly precision, they began demolishing Xana. He tried to turn and claw, but his blows passed right through their bodies.

Jeremy checked Xana's heath meter. It had dropped from 71 to 38 in seconds.

The Lyokians retreated back to their former position and the Regalians moved forward. They repositioned themselves into a triangle, with Carl on the top, Brad below him and left, and Evan below right. As each drew their weapons in turn, they glowed a brilliant white. They changed into a dramatic offensive pose. "ULTIMA TRI-FORCE STRIKE!"

All three charged at once. Xana seamed frozen in place; he didn't move as all three Ultima weapons hit his skull at once. The resulting explosion was so great that Jeremy had to turn his eyes away from the screen.

When he could look again, everyone was in their original position hovering in mid-air. But one person had joined them. Between Aelita and Kreilin now hovered France Hopper. Jeremy sat wide eyed.

The fire-bodies again remolded and flowed into Hopper's body. "PHOENIX STRIKE!" Hopper's body released a brilliant fire that expanded into a large flaming bird: the phoenix. With a mighty "caw," it flew to Xana and struck once with its talons. Then it disappeared.

The large dragon let out a deafening howl, an enormous gash running from snout to skull-tip. With a mighty crash, it collapsed, shattering the wall around it. Aelita and Kreilin softly landed on the ground. As they opened their eyes, Xana's dragon form melted into a cloud of digital information and vanished.

Jeremy sat motionless. A message flashed on his screen: "Materialization Complete," but he didn't notice.

Finally, Aelita asked, "Uh, Jeremy, what happened?"

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" he shouted in his excitement. "You don't remember any of it?"

Aelita looked puzzled. "No. Last I remember was saying the chant. Then I open my eyes and Xana's vanished."

"It was awesome! There was this phoenix, and everyone came back, and Hopper…"

"Whoa, boy," Ulrich said from behind him. "Don't we have a job to finish first?"

Jeremy regained his composure. "Oh, right. Both of you need to deactivate the tower at the same time. That should start the separation process."

Aelita and Kreilin entered the tower, flew up to the higher level and entered their codes: "Lyoko" and "Virtua." The tower's red hue faded. A white light flowed from the base of the tower and expanded along Carthage's surface until the entire sector seemed to be covered. Then the light flowed outward, into the other sectors. Jeremy's computer immediately did another shut-down/reboot. When the system was running again, Regalis was nowhere to be found. When he checked the status of the meteor, it was completely frozen. The mission and threat were over.

"You're sure you don't want to stay?" Jeremy asked.

Everyone was in the main computer room. Carl had announced that he was going to going to give up fighting with the gang. "I'm sure," he said. "I think I've had enough for a while. I just want to relax."

"At least we can count on you if we need help," Odd chimed in.

"That's for sure."

Ulrich walked over to Yumi and pulled her aside. "Hey, Yumi, I've been thinking. If you don't want to be my girlfriend, I'm fine with that. It's just that I…"

Yumi pushed a finger to her lips. "Ulrich. Shut up."

To his surprise, she leaned forward and kissed him. A moment of shock gave way to passion and he returned her kiss. His entire career at Kadik was worth it for this one moment. Yumi took the kiss deeper, finally realizing that this was what she wanted.

Jeremy turned around one last time. "The return to the past is ready. Going so far back, it may not protect our memories."

"Fine by me, I won't remember anything anyway," Carl said. He gave Odd one final handshake. "Be good to me on the other side."

"We will," Jeremy and Odd said at the same time.

Jeremy hit "Enter." "Return to the past, now."

Yumi and Ulrich didn't even notice anything that transpired between their friends, engrossed as they were in each other's love.

Yumi walked into her class and took her usual seat by William. She noticed a new guy in the back corner. He was typing something into a small palm pilot. She leaned over. "Who's the new kid?"

"No one really knows," William told her. "Ever since he got here he's been typing on that thing."

She nodded and got her things ready for class. As she did, she couldn't help but think of the dream she had last night. She and Ulrich had a deeply passionate kiss. She let out a small smile. It was the best dream she had ever had.

**Special thanks to my two good friends that were the inspiration for the Regalis gang.**

**And thanks to you readers! Without you, I probably wouldn't have finished this at all.**

**NOW PUSH THAT BUTTON AND SEND ME A REVIEW!**


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